2003 New Forest District Council election

2003 New Forest District Council election
All 60 seats to New Forest District Council; 31 seats needed for a majority
	Results by Ward
Council control before election; Conservative;	Council control after election ; Conservative;

The 2003 New Forest District Council election took place on 1 May 2003 to elect members to the New Forest District Council, on the same day as other local elections. The 2003 election saw new ward boundaries used which increased the number of seats by 2 to 60.^[1]^[2] The election saw the Conservatives win 32 seats out of the 31 required for a majority, with the Liberal Democrats winning 27 seats and one independent win.^[3]^[4]^[5]

Election Summary

New ward boundaries came into effect for the election, which increased the number of seats by two. Prior to the election, a by-election took place in Pennington, which saw the Liberal Democrats gaining the seat from the Conservatives, meaning that prior to the election the Conservatives held 29 seats (50.00%), the Liberal Democrats held 36 seats (44.82%) and three independents held seats (5.17%). After the election, the Conservatives held 32 seats (53.33%) and the Liberal Democrats held 27 (45.00%), with only one independent hold (1.66%)

The Liberal Democrats performed best in the East of the district, as well as the North West, taking eight out of ten Totton seats, all six Hythe and Dibden seats, and all four seats in the Fawley, Blackfield and Holbury area.^[4] The Conservatives meanwhile performed well across the rest of the district.

The table below only tallies the votes of the highest polling candidate for each party within each ward. This is known as the top candidate method and is often used for multi-member plurality elections.

New Forest local election result 2003
	Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes
Conservative	32	17	1	3	53.33	51.49	23,803
Liberal Democrats	27	22	0	1	45.00	40.48	18,712
Independent	1	0	2	2	1.66	5.89	2,723
Labour	0	0	0		0	1.61	745
Green	0	0	0		0	0.26	124
UKIP	0	0	0		0	0.25	117

Ward Results

Ashurst, Copythorne South and Netley Marsh

Ashurst, Copythorne South and Netley Marsh (2)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Derek Tipp	829	45.64
	Conservative	Leslie Puttock	827
	Liberal Democrats	Anthony Gray	421	23.18
	Liberal Democrats	Peter Keeley	412
	Labour	Peter Sopowski	290	15.96
	Independent	Jeannette Brownsea	276	15.19
Majority			408	22.46
Turnout			1,816
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Barton

Barton (2)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Kenneth Austin	1,261	73.61
	Conservative	John Hutchins	1,255
	Liberal Democrats	Paul Chatfield	452	26.38
	Liberal Democrats	Nicholas McGeorge	378
Majority			809	47.22
Turnout			1,713
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Bashley

Bashley
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Alan Rice	710	79.32
	Liberal Democrats	Anne Jenks	120	13.40
	Independent	Ken Duffy	65	7.26
Majority			590	65.92
Turnout			895
	Conservative win (new seat)

Becton

Becton (2)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Godfrey Beck	922	72.31
	Conservative	Paul Woods	894
	Liberal Democrats	John Burton	353	27.68
	Liberal Democrats	Margaret Newlands	344
Majority			569	44.62
Turnout			1,275
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Boldre and Sway

Boldre and Sway (2)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Barry Rickman	1,343	71.81
	Conservative	Colin Wise	1,154
	Liberal Democrats	Susan Lewis	388	20.74
	Liberal Democrats	Freda Angelou	276
	Labour	Peter Dance	139	7.43
Majority			955	51.06
Turnout			1,870
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Bramshaw, Copythorne North and Minstead

Bramshaw, Copythorne North and Minstead
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	David Scott	579	73.10
	Liberal Democrats	Judith Baker	213	26.89
Majority			366	46.21
Turnout			792
	Conservative win (new seat)

Bransgore and Burley

Bransgore and Burley (2)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	John Penwarden	961	38.15
	Conservative	Peter Greenfield	886
	Independent	Sally Owen	880	34.93
	Liberal Democrats	Gwenneth Rickus	678	26.91
Majority			81	3.21
Turnout			2,519
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Brockenhurst and Forest South East

Brockenhurst and Forest South East (2)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Maureen Holding	1,262	73.80
	Conservative	Roger Neath	1,155
	Liberal Democrats	Rachel Kalis	448	26.19
	Liberal Democrats	Frank Jenks	330
Majority			814	47.60
Turnout			1,710
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Buckland

Buckland
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal Democrats	Brenda Vincent	360	48.45
	Conservative	Michael Beggs	266	35.80
	UKIP	Alexander Neill	117	15.74
Majority			94	12.65
Turnout			743
	Liberal Democrats win (new seat)

Butts Ash and Dibden Purlieu

Butts Ash and Dibden Purlieu (2)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal Democrats	Brenda Smith	1,081	64.61
	Liberal Democrats	Malcolm Wade	1,012
	Conservative	Brian Uglow	592	35.38
Majority			489	29.22
Turnout			1,673
	Liberal Democrats win (new seat)
	Liberal Democrats win (new seat)

Dibden and Hythe East

Dibden and Hythe East (2)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal Democrats	Christopher Harrison	898	68.03
	Liberal Democrats	Stanley Wade	893
	Conservative	Beverley Thorne	422	31.96
	Conservative	Penelope Rose	410
Majority			476	36.06
Turnout			1,320
	Liberal Democrats win (new seat)
	Liberal Democrats win (new seat)

Downlands and Forest

Downlands and Forest
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal Democrats	Miranda Whitehead	560	47.29
	Conservative	Kathy Heron	500	42.22
	Green	Janet Richards	124	10.47
Majority			60	5.06
Turnout			1,184
	Liberal Democrats win (new seat)

Fawley, Blackfield and Langley

Fawley, Blackfield and Langley (2)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal Democrats	Barbara Maynard	1,011	59.78
	Liberal Democrats	Malcolm Fidler	921
	Conservative	Alexis McEvoy	680	40.21
	Conservative	Barry Brooks	584
Majority			331	19.57
Turnout			1,691
	Liberal Democrats win (new seat)
	Liberal Democrats win (new seat)

Fernhill

Fernhill (2)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Jill Cleary	802	64.52
	Conservative	Sheila Snowden	752
	Liberal Democrats	Beverly Scott-Johns	441	35.47
	Liberal Democrats	Wendy Hedge	411
Majority			814	29.04
Turnout			1,243
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Fordingbridge

Fordingbridge (2)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal Democrats	Robert Hale	1,481	68.12
	Liberal Democrats	Michael Shand	1,376
	Conservative	Roger Kernan	693	31.87
Majority			788	36.24
Turnout			2,174
	Liberal Democrats win (new seat)
	Liberal Democrats win (new seat)

Forest North West

Forest North West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Bill Dow	565	60.75
	Liberal Democrats	John Stokes	365	39.24
Majority			200	21.50
Turnout			930
	Conservative win (new seat)

Furzedown and Hardley

Furzedown and Hardley
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal Democrats	Graham Parkes	565	72.30
	Conservative	Michael Curry	167	27.69
Majority			269	44.61
Turnout			603
	Liberal Democrats win (new seat)

Holbury and North Blackfield

Holbury and North Blackfield (2)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal Democrats	John Coles	802	71.67
	Liberal Democrats	Colin Baker	754
	Conservative	Olivia Foster	317	28.32
	Conservative	Robert Wappet	295
Majority			331	19.57
Turnout			1,691
	Liberal Democrats win (new seat)
	Liberal Democrats win (new seat)

Hordle

Hordle (2)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	John Hoy	953	50.18
	Conservative	Andrew Tinsley	699
	Independent	Ernest Bowring	685	36.07
	Liberal Democrats	Penelope Senior	261	13.74
	Liberal Democrats	Jacqueline Szwaczka	203
Majority			268	14.11
Turnout			1,899
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Hythe West and Langdown

Hythe West and Langdown (2)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal Democrats	Maureen McLean	1,173	71.52
	Liberal Democrats	Maureen Robinson	1,172
	Conservative	John Hall-Say	467	28.47
	Conservative	Martin Wood	443
Majority			706	43.04
Turnout			1,640
	Liberal Democrats win (new seat)
	Liberal Democrats win (new seat)

Lymington Town

Lymington Town (2)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Kevin Ault	1,264	70.85
	Conservative	Thomas Russell	1,153
	Liberal Democrats	Sally May	520	29.14
	Liberal Democrats	Edward Jearrad	480
Majority			744	41.70
Turnout			1,784
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Lyndhurst

Lyndhurst
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Patricia Wyeth	630	70.62
	Liberal Democrats	William Croydon	159	17.82
	Labour	Kenneth Kershaw	103	11.54
Majority			471	52.80
Turnout			892
	Conservative win (new seat)

Marchwood

Marchwood (2)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal Democrats	Graham Walmsley	701	58.07
	Liberal Democrats	Linda Snashall	586
	Conservative	Frakn Vickers	506	41.92
	Conservative	Alan Shotter	502
Majority			195	16.15
Turnout			1,207
	Liberal Democrats win (new seat)
	Liberal Democrats win (new seat)

Milford

Milford (2)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Melville Kendal	1,371	75.91
	Conservative	Brian Pemberton	1,274
	Liberal Democrats	Roger Hedge	435	24.08
	Liberal Democrats	Clifford Lewis	354
Majority			936	51.82
Turnout			1,806
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Milton

Milton (2)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Ben Rule	1,073	63.52
	Conservative	John Ward	1,033
	Liberal Democrats	Benjamin Earwicker	616	36.47
	Liberal Democrats	Wynford Davies	570
Majority			467	27.64
Turnout			1,689
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Pennington

Pennington (2)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal Democrats	Paul Hickman	848	52.34
	Liberal Democrats	Martina Humber	814
	Conservative	Penelope Beasley	509	31.41
	Conservative	Jacci Rhodes-Jury	378
	Independent	Michael Thorp	263	16.23
Majority			339	20.92
Turnout			1,620
	Liberal Democrats win (new seat)
	Liberal Democrats win (new seat)

Ringwood East and Sopley

Ringwood East and Sopley
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Patricia Drake	472	76.00
	Liberal Democrats	Peter Newlands	149	23.99
Majority			323	52.01
Turnout			621
	Conservative win (new seat)

Ringwood North

Ringwood North (2)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Michael Thierry	602	62.38
	Conservative	Lorna Ford	600
	Liberal Democrats	Malcolm Connolly	363	37.61
	Liberal Democrats	Peter Kinnison	341
Majority			239	24.76
Turnout			965
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Ringwood South

Ringwood South (2)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Jeremy Heron	615	44.11
	Independent	Daniel Cracknell	554	39.74
	Independent	Belinda Charlton	356
	Liberal Democrats	Peter Chambers	225	16.14
	Liberal Democrats	Veronica Sullivan	218
Majority			408	22.46
Turnout			1,816
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Independent win (new seat)

Totton Central

Totton Central (2)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal Democrats	Stephen Shepherd	497	43.52
	Liberal Democrats	George Dart	492
	Conservative	Ronnie Belfitt	432	37.82
	Conservative	Christopher Lagdon	428
	Labour	Alan Goodfellow	213	18.65
Majority			65	5.69
Turnout			1,142
	Liberal Democrats win (new seat)
	Liberal Democrats win (new seat)

Totton East

Totton East (2)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal Democrats	Frank Harrison	657	51.04
	Liberal Democrats	Graham Abbott	643
	Conservative	Frank Bright	630	48.95
	Conservative	Diana Brooks	602
Majority			27	2.09
Turnout			1,287
	Liberal Democrats win (new seat)
	Liberal Democrats win (new seat)

Totton North

Totton North (2)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal Democrats	Neal Scott	424	51.14
	Conservative	Melvyn Molyneux	405	48.85
	Conservative	Marion Emery	377
	Liberal Democrats	Pauline Watkins	377
Turnout			829
	Liberal Democrats win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Totton South

Totton South (2)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal Democrats	David Harrison	759	58.11
	Liberal Democrats	Alan Weeks	678
	Conservative	William Catt	547	41.88
	Conservative	George Kilford	511
Majority			212	16.23
Turnout			1306,
	Liberal Democrats win (new seat)
	Liberal Democrats win (new seat)

Totton West

Totton West (2)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	David Hibbert	456	52.23
	Liberal Democrats	David Russell	417	47.76
	Liberal Democrats	Leonard Harris	414	47.42
	Conservative	Christopher Webb	403
Turnout			873
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Liberal Democrats win (new seat)

References

^ "BBC NEWS | VOTE 2003 | New Forest". news.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
^ "The District of New Forest (Parishes and Electoral Changes) Order 2001".
^ "Local Elections Archive Project - 2003 - New Forest". www.andrewteale.me.uk. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
^ ^a ^b "Local Elections: How New Forest voted". Daily Echo. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
^ Rallings, Collin; Thrasher, Michael. "New Forest District Council Election Results 1973-2011" (PDF). Plymouth University.

[1] "BBC NEWS | VOTE 2003 | New Forest". news.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 28 September 2020.

[2] "The District of New Forest (Parishes and Electoral Changes) Order 2001".

[3] "Local Elections Archive Project - 2003 - New Forest". www.andrewteale.me.uk. Retrieved 27 September 2020.

[:0-4] "Local Elections: How New Forest voted". Daily Echo. Retrieved 27 September 2020.

[5] Rallings, Collin; Thrasher, Michael. "New Forest District Council Election Results 1973-2011" (PDF). Plymouth University.

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