2003 Woking Borough Council election

The 2003 Woking Council election took place on 1 May 2003 to elect members of Woking Borough Council in Surrey, England. One third of the council was up for election and the council stayed under no overall control.[1]

Map of the results of the 2003 Woking council election. Conservatives in blue, Liberal Democrats in yellow and Labour in red. Wards in grey were not contested in 2003.

After the election, the composition of the council was:

Background

The election saw 13 seats being contested with the contest in Brookwood ward being a by-election after the previous Conservative councillor, Mark Pritchard, resigned his seat on the council.[3] Three long standing councillors also stood down at the election, Alf Stranks in Byfleet ward, Gordon Brown in Horsell East and Woodham and Rosemary Johnson in Old Woking.[3] As well as candidates from the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and Labour, there were also 3 from the United Kingdom Independence Party, 2 independents and 1 from the Green Party.[3]

Election result

No party won a majority in the election with the council remaining under no overall control as it had been since the 1998 election.[4] The only party to have more seats after the election than before was Labour after they gained Old Woking from the Liberal Democrats by 26 votes.[4] Meanwhile, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats each gained one seat from the other, with the Conservatives taking Byfleet by 27 votes and the Liberal Democrats winning Brookwood by 7 votes.[4] Overall turnout in the election was 33.66%.[5]

The failure by the Conservatives to gain the two seats they needed to have a majority on the council was described as disappointing by commentators, in a year when the party gained seats nationally.[6] [7]

Woking Local Election Result 2003[2][5]
Party Seats Gains Losses Net gain/loss Seats % Votes % Votes +/−
  Conservative 6 1 1 0 46.2 46.7 8,780 +1.3%
  Liberal Democrats 4 1 2 -1 30.8 35.4 6,653 -4.1%
  Labour 3 1 0 +1 23.1 13.1 2,463 -0.7%
  Independent 0 0 0 0 0 2.5 461 +1.8%
  UKIP 0 0 0 0 0 1.9 362 +0.8%
  Green 0 0 0 0 0 0.4 76 +0.4%

Ward results
Brookwood[3][5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Philip Goldenberg 358 44.1 +13.8
Conservative Justin Boorman 351 43.2 -19.7
Green Sandra Simkin 76 9.4 +9.4
Labour Eric Kennedy 27 3.3 -3.5
Majority 7 0.9
Turnout 812 43.8
Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative Swing
Byfleet[3][5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Simon Hutton 1,026 46.0 -2.1
Liberal Democrats Anne Roberts 999 44.8 +5.1
Labour Brian Cozens 207 9.3 -2.9
Majority 27 1.2 -7.2
Turnout 2,232 41.0 +4.8
Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats Swing
Goldsworth East[3][5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Geoff Smith 727 52.2 +2.4
Conservative Jeremy Yates 457 32.8 +2.3
Labour Christopher Martin 210 15.1 -4.6
Majority 270 19.4 +0.1
Turnout 1,394 25.8 -3.9
Liberal Democrats hold Swing
Hermitage and Knaphill South[3][5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Tina Liddington 540 52.6
Conservative Hilary Addison 349 34.0
Labour Graeme Carman 137 13.4
Majority 191 18.6
Turnout 1,026 25.6 -5.0
Liberal Democrats hold Swing
Horsell East and Woodham[3][5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Anne Murray 814 58.7
Liberal Democrats Robert Leach 333 24.0
UKIP Michael Harvey 183 13.2
Labour Michael Roberts 56 4.0
Majority 481 34.7
Turnout 1,386 40.6
Conservative hold Swing
Horsell West[3][5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Jim Armitage 1,129 50.1 +7.2
Liberal Democrats Ann-Marie Barker 935 41.5 -6.6
Labour Audrey Worgan 121 5.4 +0.0
UKIP Timothy Shaw 69 3.1 -0.5
Majority 194 8.6
Turnout 2,254 42.2 -4.0
Conservative hold Swing
Kingfield and Westfield[3][5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour John Martin 498 43.5
Conservative Norma Gruselle 321 28.1
Liberal Democrats Gareth Davies 215 18.8
UKIP Paul Davey 110 9.6
Majority 177 15.4
Turnout 1,144 28.8
Labour hold Swing
Knaphill[3][5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Neville Hinks 977 47.8 +4.3
Conservative Catherine Fisher 950 46.5 +1.3
Labour Chanchal Kapoor 117 5.7 -5.6
Majority 27 1.3
Turnout 2,044 30.5 +1.8
Liberal Democrats hold Swing
Maybury and Sheerwater[3][5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Elizabeth Evans 593 40.8 -18.3
Liberal Democrats Michael Wilson 397 27.3 +13.2
Conservative David Roe 289 19.9 +1.7
Independent Michael Osman 174 12.0 +3.5
Majority 196 13.5 -27.4
Turnout 1,453 22.2 -2.6
Labour hold Swing
Old Woking[3][5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Richard Ford 304 42.6 +13.5
Liberal Democrats Derek McCrum 278 39.0 -13.9
Conservative Colin Kemp 131 18.4 +0.4
Majority 26 3.6
Turnout 713 37.2
Labour gain from Liberal Democrats Swing
Pyrford[3][5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Peter Ankers 1,285 72.3
Liberal Democrats Andrew Grimshaw 442 24.9
Labour Richard Cowley 50 2.8
Majority 843 47.4
Turnout 1,777 44.9
Conservative hold Swing
St Johns and Hook Heath[3][5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Graham Cundy 899 72.9 +3.8
Liberal Democrats Anthony Kremer 266 21.6 -3.3
Labour John Bramall 69 5.6 -0.4
Majority 633 51.3 +7.1
Turnout 1,234 35.2 0.0
Conservative hold Swing
West Byfleet[3][5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Mehala Gosling 779 58.7 -12.9
Independent Richard Wilson 287 21.6 +21.6
Liberal Democrats Peter Hough 186 14.0 -7.8
Labour Michael Byrne 74 5.6 -1.0
Majority 492 37.1 -12.7
Turnout 1,326 33.8 -3.1
Conservative hold Swing

References
  1. "Local elections". BBC News Online. Retrieved 21 January 2010.
  2. "Election Results". The Times. 2 May 2003. p. 17.
  3. "Shake up of council as three bow out". getbracknell. 3 April 2003. Retrieved 21 January 2010.
  4. "Council is hung for fifth year". getsurrey. 8 May 2003. Retrieved 21 January 2010.
  5. "Election various wards Thursday 1 May 2003: Results" (PDF). Woking Borough Council. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 November 2008. Retrieved 21 January 2010.
  6. Johnston, Philip (2 May 2003). "Labour loses cities as war backlash bites: Analysis". The Daily Telegraph. p. 9.
  7. "Nationwide gains enough to save IDS leadership". Evening Standard. 2 May 2003. p. 6.


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