21 out of 60 seats to Colchester Borough Council 31 seats needed for a majority
Turnout
27.5% (3.4%)
First party
Second party
Party
Liberal Democrats
Conservative
Last election
26 seats, 36.4%
24 seats, 39.5%
Seats before
23
24
Seats won
8
10
Seats after
25
24
Seat change
2
Popular vote
8,740
11,108
Percentage
32.0%
40.6%
Swing
4.4%
1.1%
Third party
Fourth party
Party
Independent
Labour
Last election
4 seats, 3.7%
6 seats, 19.1%
Seats before
8
4
Seats won
1
2
Seats after
6
5
Seat change
2
1
Popular vote
1,563
5,467
Percentage
5.7%
20.0%
Swing
2.0%
0.9%
Council control before election
No overall control
Council control after election
No overall control
Map of the results of the 2003 Colchester council election. Conservatives in blue, Liberal Democrats in yellow, Labour in red and independents in light grey. Wards in dark grey were not contested in 2003.
The 2003 Colchester Borough Council election took place on 1 May 2003 to elect members of Colchester Borough Council in Essex, England. This was the same day as the other 2003 United Kingdom local elections. One third of the seats were up for election and the council stayed under no overall control.[1]
Background
Prior to the election, two sitting Labour councillors resigned from the party, leaving the Labour group with 4 seats. Don Quinn (St Andrew's) left the Labour group to sit as an Independent, whilst Phillip Hawkins (Wivenhoe Cross) resigned his seat after moving to Scotland.[2]
Before the election the Conservatives were the largest party with 24 seats, the Liberal Democrats had 23 seats, Labour had 4 seats, there were 8 independents and 1 seat was vacant.[3] The council was run by a cabinet comprising 3 Conservatives, 3 Liberal Democrats and 1 Labour members.[4]
21 seats were being contested, with 2 seats available in Wivenhoe Cross due to the vacancy.[3] The remaining 20 seats all had the sitting councillors defending their seats and included the Labour group leader Tim Young in St Andrew's and the Conservative mayor Nigel Chapman in Fordham and Stour.[3] Meanwhile, in Highwoods, Ian Ringer, defended the seat as an independent after leaving the Liberal Democrats earlier in 2003.[3]
Election result
Prior to the election, 3 Liberal Democrat councillors from Highwoods ward defected and sat as Independents, reducing the Liberal Democrat group to 23 councillors.
Before the election one seat was vacant in Wivenhoe Cross ward.
Ward results
Shown below are ward results according to the council's election results archive.[6][7][8]
Three of the single-seat wards (Dedham & Langham, East Donyland, Marks Tey) were not up for election this year. Neither were three of the two-seat wards (Harbour, Lexden, St John's).
No Independent (35.9%) or Green (10.4%) candidates as previous.
References
^"Colchester : Hung council on election night". Essex County Publications. NewsBank. 2 May 2003.
^"Two councillors quit Labour Party". East Anglian Daily Times. Retrieved 27 December 2022.
^ abcd"Essex: Politicians set to slug it out". Essex County Publications. NewsBank. 2 April 2003.
^"Colchester : No Labour place on council cabinet". Essex County Publications. NewsBank. 7 May 2003.
^"BBC News Vote 2003 Local Elections". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
^ ab"Colchester Borough Council Elections 1 May 2003 - Results". Colchester Borough Council. Archived from the original on 9 September 2013. Retrieved 20 May 2013.