The 2003 Wyre Forest District Council election took place on 1 May 2003 to elect members of

Wyre Forest __NOTOC__ Wyre Forest is a large, semi-natural (partially unmanaged) woodland and forest measuring which straddles the borders of Worcestershire and Shropshire, England. Knowles Mill, a former corn mill owned by the National Trust, lies wi ...

District A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

Council in

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. One third of the council was up for election and the council stayed under no overall control. After the election, the composition of the council was: *

Health Concern Independent Kidderminster Hospital and Health Concern, (often known as Independent Community And Health Concern and abbreviated as ICHC) is a political party based in Kidderminster, United Kingdom. The party was founded in 2000, having grown ou ...

19 *

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

9 *

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

7 *

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

4 * Liberal Democrats 2 *

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

Background

Before the election the council was composed of 21

, 7

, 5

, 2 Liberal Democrats and 2

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

councillor A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

s. 15 seats were up for election with Health Concern needing to gain one seat to win a majority but the other parties predicted they could make gains instead. The seats being defended in the election were 6 Health Concern, 3 Conservative, 3 Labour, 1 Liberal, 1 Liberal Democrat and 1 independent, which included 2 seats in Oldington and Foley Park

ward 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 pris ...

where a Conservative councillor had stood down.

Election result

Health Concern suffered a net loss of 2 councillors after losing 3 seats and only gaining 1 in Oldington and Foley Park. Despite the losses Health Concern said that would continue as a minority administration on the council. The Conservatives strengthened their position as the main opposition on the council after increasing their number of seats to 9 including a shock gain from Labour in

Wolverley Wolverley is a village; with nearby Cookley (1 mi northeast), it forms a civil parish in the Wyre Forest District of Worcestershire, England. It is 2 miles north of Kidderminster and lies on the River Stour and the Staffordshire and ...

. They put their gains down to a focus on "community issues" including crime, tax and health and disillusionment with Health Concern. Meanwhile, Labour dropped to only holding 4 seats, their lowest number of seats on the council since the late 1970s and their joint lowest ever. Other changes included 2 gains for the Liberals in Broadwaters and Habberley and Blakebrook, while the Liberal Democrats lost 1 seat but gained another in Aggborough and

Spennells Spennells is a suburb of Kidderminster, Worcestershire about a mile south of the town centre. It is located just to the east of the A449 and the railway line between Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England ...

Voter turnout In political science, voter turnout is the participation rate (often defined as those who cast a ballot) of a given election. This can be the percentage of registered voters, eligible voters, or all voting-age people. According to Stanford Unive ...

in the election was down to below 31%, the lowest since 1998, with only 2 wards seeing a turnout of over 35%. This was attributed to the lack of strong issues during the campaign compared to previous elections where controversy over

Kidderminster Kidderminster is a large market and historic minster town and civil parish in Worcestershire, England, south-west of Birmingham and north of Worcester. Located north of the River Stour and east of the River Severn, in the 2011 census, it had ...

hospital and a planned incinerator increased interest.

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 Worcestershire