The 2003 Stratford-on-Avon District Council election took place on 1 May 2003 to elect members of

Stratford-on-Avon Stratford-upon-Avon (), commonly known as just Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It is situated on the River Avon, north-wes ...

District Council in Warwickshire, England. One third of the council was up for election and the Conservative Party gained overall control of the council from no overall control. After the election, the composition of the council was * Conservative 27 * Liberal Democrat 22 * Independent 3 * Labour 1

Campaign

Before the election the Conservatives were one seats short of having a majority on the council with 26 seats, as compared to 22 for the Liberal Democrats, 2 Labour and 3 independents. 16 seats were contested in the election with the Liberal Democrats defending the most seats. Council tax levels were the major issue in the election with the Liberal Democrats attacking plans for a 58% increase, which they said was mostly due to waste and poor decisions by the council. However the Conservatives defended the rise, blaming it on an insufficient grant from the national government and on the previous Liberal Democrat administration for using cash balances to keep levels artificially low. The election also saw four independent candidates standing in Stratford

wards Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a priso ...

in opposition to the council tax rise.

Election result

The results saw the Conservatives regain control of the council, after the election saw 5 seats changes hands. They made a net gain of 1 seat at the expense of Labour who were reduced to only 1 seat on the council after losing in Southam ward. The election in Stratford Avenue and New Town saw the closest result with independent Keith Lloyd, standing in protest at council tax levels, defeating Liberal Democrat Bill Lowe by 1 vote. However the Liberal Democrats ended with the same number of seats, with their 2 gains including a surprise win in

Stockton Stockton may refer to: Places Australia * Stockton, New South Wales * Stockton, Queensland, a locality in the Cassowary Coast Region New Zealand *Stockton, New Zealand United Kingdom *Stockton, Cheshire *Stockton, Norfolk *Stockton, Chirbu ...

and

Napton Napton on the Hill, often referred to locally as just Napton, is a village and civil parish east of Southam in Warwickshire, England. The population of the civil parish taken at the 2011 census was 1,144. Manor The toponym Napton is derived ...

. Turnout in the election varied from a low of 27% to a high of 51%, but overall fell from 45% in 2002 to only 35%. This was despite including 3,000 voters who had used a trial e-voting internet system.

Ward results

References

{{United Kingdom local elections, 2003 2003 English local elections

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

2000s in Warwickshire