2003 Stafford Borough Council election

Last updated October 14, 2025

Elections to Stafford Borough Council were held on 1 May 2003. All 59 seats on the council were up for election, with boundary changes meaning the number was reduced from 60. There were elections held in 24 wards, with a further 2 wards (Church Eaton and Milwich) uncontested. The Conservative Party gained majority control of the council after the council was under no overall control prior to the election. Overall turnout was 37.51%, with the lowest turnout (24.08%) in Coton ward and the highest (55.77%) in Seighford. As a result of the election, the new council leader was Cllr. Judith Dalgarno.

Election result

Stafford local election result 2003
	Seats	Net gain/loss	Seats %
Conservative	40	+17	67.8%
Labour	14	-13	23.7%
Liberal Democrats	5	-3	8.4%
Independent	0	-2	0

The total number of seats on the Council after the election was:

Sources: BBC Stafford Borough Council

Results by ward

All results from Stafford Borough Council.

Barlaston and Oulton (2 seats)


Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	John Fairbanks	817
	Liberal Democrats	John Russell	763
	Conservative	Philip Jones	674
Turnout			1,443	44.29%

Baswich (2 seats)


Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Ann Edgeller	868
	Conservative	Susan Francis	728
	Labour	Michael Evans	349
	Labour	Mellony Millichap	300
	Liberal Democrats	Paul Brett	250
	UKIP	Adrian Wood	195
Turnout			1,463	42.47%

Chartley (1 seat)


Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal Democrats	Brendan McKeown	346	50.2%
	Conservative	Christopher Walster	343	49.8%
Turnout			694	47.86%

Church Eaton (1 seat)


Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Barry Stamp	Election Uncontested

Common (2 seats)


Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	John Kennedy	438
	Labour	William Simpson	422
	Conservative	James Eld	246
	Conservative	Carol Lee	234
	Liberal Democrats	Robert Hine	178
	UKIP	Leslie Gittins	142
Turnout			920	29.00%

Coton (2 seats)


Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	William Kemp	378
	Labour	Michael Shone	345
	Liberal Democrats	Rosemary Vance-Cotsford	155
	UKIP	Paul Gilbert	150
	Conservative	Dominic Brisby	128
	Conservative	Edith Foster	121
Turnout			696	24.08%

Eccleshall (3 seats)


Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Henry Butter	1134
	Conservative	John Sillito	1039
	Conservative	Ivan Jennings	925
	Independent	Gordon Dale	775
	Liberal Democrats	David Kirby	674
	Liberal Democrats	Bryan Delanchy	465
Turnout			1,954	38.26

Forebridge (2 seats)


Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal Democrats	Christine Baron	648
	Liberal Democrats	David Seary	559
	Labour	Ian Ronald	313
	Labour	Lisa Pearce	261
	Conservative	Violet Allan	198
	Conservative	Patrick Roe	187
Turnout			1,138	35.09%

Fulford (3 seats)


Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	John Bedson	1019
	Conservative	Sydney Oldfield	913
	Conservative	Andrew Harp	828
	Liberal Democrats	Kathleen Brayford	636
	Liberal Democrats	Richard Mycock	618
	Liberal Democrats	Kenneth Brayford	599
	Labour	Michael Shaw	366
Turnout			1,902	40.62%

Gnosall and Woodseaves (3 seats)


Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Raymond Smith	1057
	Conservative	James Kelly	1039
	Conservative	Kenneth Williamson	1019
	Liberal Democrats	Richard Philpott	623
	Liberal Democrats	George Sunley	612
	Liberal Democrats	Robert Philpott	593
Turnout			1,806	35.66%

Haywood and Hixon (3 seats)


Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Jean Tabernor	999
	Conservative	Amyas Northcote	968
	Conservative	Alan Perkins	951
	Labour	John Coates	487
	UKIP	John Mosley	367
	Liberal Democrats	Timothy Hackett	364
	Liberal Democrats	Jacqueline Hemingway	349
	UKIP	Ronald Chell	342
	Labour	John Boyle	336
Turnout			2,003	39.69%

Highfields and Western Downs (3 seats)


Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Aidan Godfrey	668
	Labour	Maureen Bowen	630
	Labour	Anthony Pearce	561
	Independent	Neil Thomas	428
	Conservative	Richard Downs	365
	Liberal Democrats	Lynda Turner	333
	Conservative	Trevor Tabernor	332
	Independent	Scott Wilson	296
Turnout			1,462	30.64%

Holmcroft (3 seats)


Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	James Cantrill	845
	Conservative	Bryan Cross MBE	827
	Labour	Andrew Compton MBE	693
	Conservative	Isabella Davies	684
	Labour	Maureen Compton	679
	Labour	James Paton	628
	Independent	Andrew James	281
	UKIP	David Hilton	160
Turnout			1,802	35.47%

Littleworth (3 seats)


Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Michael Heenan	850
	Conservative	Michael Bentley	776
	Conservative	Denis Skelland	749
	Liberal Democrats	Peter Voss	642
	Labour	Anothony Welch	557
	Labour	Rosalind Kennedy	557
	Labour	Julian Thorley	503
	Liberal Democrats	John Hopkinson	464
	Liberal Democrats	Jeremy Milln	435
Turnout			1,920	40.73

Manor (3 seats)


Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Angela Loughran	757
	Labour	Geoffrey Rowlands	686
	Labour	Patricia Rowlands	670
	Conservative	Gary Simmonds	416
	Conservative	Christopher Knapped	385
	Conservative	Paul Robinson	352
	UKIP	Carl Gilbert	243
	Liberal Democrats	Elizabeth Page	224
	Liberal Democrats	Stephanie Spiers	223
	Liberal Democrats	John Phillips	218
Turnout			1,540	31.74%

Milford (2 seat)


Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Francis Finlay	904
	Conservative	Trevor Reeves	808
	Liberal Democrats	Trevor Fisher	278
Turnout			1,159	33.98%

Milwich (1 seat)


Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Wilfred Davis	Election Uncontested

Penkside (2 seats)


Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Ralph Cooke	404
	Labour	Malcolm Millichap	354
	Conservative	Trevor Houlton	235
	Conservative	Anthony Williams	200
	Liberal Democrats	Julia Towers	131
	UKIP	Jillian Crutchley	110
Turnout			783	28.28%

Rowley (2 seats)


Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	David Allan	662
	Conservative	Patrick Farrington	648
	Labour	Elaine Kidney	639
	Labour	John Hartshorne	552
	Liberal Democrats	Richard Hinton	231
	UKIP	Richard Hilton	145
Turnout			1,527	43.04%

Seighford (2 seats)


Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Mark Winnington	725
	Conservative	Raymond Sutherland	725
	Liberal Democrats	Frank James	631
	Liberal Democrats	Gillian Cox	605
	Labour	Raymond Allsop	177
	Labour	Beryl Kemp	176
Turnout			1,585	55.77%

St Michael's (2 seats)


Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Stanley Goodall	571
	Conservative	Linda Davies	550
	Labour	Harry Brunt	478
	Labour	Peter Sinnott	367
	Liberal Democrats	Mark Hatton	349
Turnout			1,272	36.07%

Stonefield and Christchurch (2 seats)


Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Joyce Farnham	718
	Conservative	Michael Leese	522
	Liberal Democrats	Peter Stevens	484
	Labour	David Smithwick	477
	Labour	Desmond Byrne	342
	Liberal Democrats	John Warren	248
Turnout			1,474	39.99%

Swynnerton (2 seats)


Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	James Highfield	857
	Conservative	David Price	721
	Independent	Robert Simcock	469
	Labour	Diana Osbourne	332
Turnout			1,408	39.98%

Tillington (2 seats)


Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Peter Goodland	524
	Conservative	Adam Tedstone	518
	Labour	Stephen Moore	448
	Labour	Anthony Nixon	402
	Liberal Democrats	David Hughes	205
Turnout			1,161	35.21%

Walton (3 seats)


Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Phillip Leason	821
	Conservative	Michael Carey	796
	Labour	Deborah Wakefield	765
	Labour	John Beecham	672
	Conservative	Douglas Doney	666
	Labour	Roy Osborne	625
	Liberal Democrats	Janet Stevens	279
Turnout			1,671	36.66%

Weeping Cross (3 seats)


Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Judith Dalgarno	1,369
	Conservative	John Francis	1,153
	Conservative	Colin Wilkinson	1,113
	Labour	Michael Barber	698
	Liberal Democrats	Henry Towers	523
	UKIP	Malcolm Hurst	356
Turnout			2,191	41.40%

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v t e Council elections in Staffordshire
Staffordshire County Council	1889 1892 1895 1898 1901 1904 1907 1910 1913 1919 1922 1925 1928 1931 1934 1937 1946 1949 1952 1955 1958 1961 1964 1967 1970 1973 1977 1981 1985 1989 1993 1997 2001 2005 2009 2013 2017 2021 2025
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East Staffordshire Borough Council	1973 1976 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019 2023
Lichfield District Council	1973 1976 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019 2023
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South Staffordshire District Council	1973 1976 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019 2023
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Staffordshire Moorlands District Council	1973 1976 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019 2023
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See also: Wards Boundary changes

v t e (2002 ←) 2003 United Kingdom local elections (→ 2004)
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