2003 Cherwell District Council election

The 2003 Cherwell District Council election took place on 1 May 2003 to elect members of Cherwell District Council in Oxfordshire, England. One third of the council was up for election and the Conservative Party stayed in overall control of the council. ^[1]

Before the election the Conservatives were expected to lose seats after a recent large council tax rise. ^[2] The results saw the Conservatives keep a majority but suffer a net loss of 3 seats after losing 2 seats each to Labour and the Liberal Democrats. ^[3] The Labour winners included John Hanna who won by 44 votes after losing in the 2002 election by 8 votes. ^[3] However the Conservatives did gain a seat in Banbury Grimsbury & Castle from Labour for the first in over 20 years. ^[3] Meanwhile, the National Front stood a candidate for the first time to Cherwell Council and said that they would stand in all of the Bicester wards in the next election in 2004. ^[3]

After the election, the composition of the council was:

• Conservative 34
• Labour 12
• Liberal Democrat 4 ^[4]

Election result

Cherwell Local Election Result 2003 ^[5]

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Conservative	9	1	4	-3	56.3	47.7	9,457	-3.6%
	Labour	4	2	1	+1	25.0	25.4	5,034	-6.3%
	Liberal Democrats	3	2	0	+2	18.8	23.8	4,719	+7.8%
	Independent	0	0	0	0	0	1.5	306	+1.1%
	Green	0	0	0	0	0	0.8	155	+0.2%
	National Front	0	0	0	0	0	0.7	142	+0.7%

Ward results

Ambrosden & Chesterton ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Andrew Fulljames	517	73.6	+8.7
	Liberal Democrats	Ralph Rookwood	185	26.4	+1.5
Majority			332	47.2	+7.2
Turnout			702
	Conservative hold		Swing

The Astons & Heyfords ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Richard Makepeace	718	51.2
	Conservative	Terence Miall	684	48.8
Majority			34	2.4
Turnout			1,402
	Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative		Swing

Banbury Easington ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Nigel Morris	870	47.9
	Labour	David Bullock	340	18.7
	Independent	Gordon Gerry	306	16.8
	Liberal Democrats	Daphne Nash	223	12.3
	Green	Michael Cull-Dodd	79	4.3
Majority			530	29.2
Turnout			1,818
	Conservative hold		Swing

Banbury Grimsbury & Castle ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Stephen Back	704	50.7
	Labour	Gordon Ross	684	49.3
Majority			20	1.4
Turnout			1,388
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

Banbury Hardwick ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Nicholas Turner	504	60.4
	Labour	Andrew Coles	331	39.6
Majority			173	20.8
Turnout			835
	Conservative hold		Swing

Banbury Ruscote ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Janet Justice	676	50.9
	Conservative	Keith Strangwood	652	49.1
Majority			24	1.8
Turnout			1,328
	Labour hold		Swing

Bicester East ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Hanna	542	46.6
	Conservative	Anthony Kempton	498	42.8
	Liberal Democrats	Olatunde Afilaka	124	10.7
Majority			44	3.8
Turnout			1,164
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

Bicester North ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Eamonn Gilmore	564	57.4
	Labour	Wendy Spencer	273	27.8
	Liberal Democrats	Stephen Creed	146	14.9
Majority			291	29.6
Turnout			983
	Conservative hold		Swing

Bicester South ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Rose Stratford	405	42.6
	Liberal Democrats	Nicholas Cotter	387	40.7
	Labour	Nicholas Cherry	159	16.7
Majority			18	1.9
Turnout			951
	Conservative hold		Swing

Bicester Town ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Diana Edwards	564	52.3
	Labour	John Broad	341	31.6
	Liberal Democrats	Neil Walton	173	16.0
Majority			223	20.7
Turnout			1,078
	Conservative hold		Swing

Bicester West ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Leslie Sibley	774	43.3
	Conservative	Russell Hurle	690	38.6
	Liberal Democrats	Lorraine Read	181	10.1
	National Front	James Starkey	142	7.9
Majority			84	4.7
Turnout			1,787
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

Cropredy ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Rosemarie Higham	704	77.5
	Liberal Democrats	Peter Davis	204	22.5
Majority			500	55.0
Turnout			908
	Conservative hold		Swing

Hook Norton ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Derrick Gasson	597	77.6
	Liberal Democrats	Martin Squires	172	22.4
Majority			425	55.2
Turnout			769
	Conservative hold		Swing

Kidlington North ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	John Wyse	786	54.6
	Conservative	Susan Goodgame	408	28.4
	Labour	Catharine Arakelian	245	17.0
Majority			378	26.2
Turnout			1,439
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Kidlington South ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Stansby	669	37.6
	Liberal Democrats	Devena Rae	602	33.9
	Conservative	Barry Carter	507	28.5
Majority			67	3.7
Turnout			1,778
	Labour hold		Swing

Yarnton, Gosford & Water Eaton ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Paul Evans	818	55.2
	Conservative	Maurice Billington	589	39.7
	Green	Nicholas Goodwin	76	5.1
Majority			229	15.5
Turnout			1,483
	Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative		Swing

References

1. "Local elections". BBC News Online . Retrieved 21 October 2009.
2. "Polls open for local elections". Oxford Mail. 1 May 2003. Retrieved 21 October 2009.^{[ permanent dead link ]}
3. "Cherwell: Tories drop three seats". Oxford Mail. 2 May 2003. Retrieved 21 October 2009.^{[ permanent dead link ]}
4. "English local elections: Results". The Guardian . 2 May 2003. p. 12.
5. "Election Results". The Times . 2 May 2003. p. 17.
6. "Election Results 2003". Political Science Resources. Archived from the original on 25 January 2011. Retrieved 21 October 2009.