2003 Welwyn Hatfield District Council election

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

After the election, the composition of the council was:

• Conservative 27
• Labour 20
• Vacant 1 ^[2]

Election result

The results saw the Conservatives increase their majority on the council after making one gain from Labour in Hatfield West. ^[3] No other seats changed parties, with the Conservatives holding Sherrards by 123 votes over Labour. ^[3] The closest result came in Handside ward where the Conservatives held the seat by 20 votes over the Liberal Democrats, meaning that the Liberal Democrats remained without any seats on the council. ^[3] Overall turnout in the election was 33.1%, ^[4] down by 2% from the 2002 election, with a quarter of the votes cast being postal votes. ^[3]

Welwyn Hatfield Local Election Result 2003 ^{[2] [4]}

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Conservative	9	1	0	+1	56.3	45.1	9,591	-3.1%
	Labour	7	0	1	-1	43.8	32.3	6,858	-2.0%
	Liberal Democrats	0	0	0	0	0	22.6	4,794	+5.1%

Ward results

Brookmans Park & Little Heath ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Stephen Boulton	1,203	77.2	+1.3
	Liberal Democrats	Catherine Edwards	211	13.5	+0.7
	Labour	Margaret White	145	9.3	-2.0
Majority			992	63.7	+0.6
Turnout			1,559
	Conservative hold		Swing

Haldens ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Mike Larkins	652	51.5	-3.1
	Conservative	Stuart Jackson	345	27.3	-1.9
	Liberal Democrats	Helen Bassett	269	21.2	+5.0
Majority			307	24.2	-1.2
Turnout			1,266
	Labour hold		Swing

Handside ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Dennis Lewis	1,022	44.4	+2.8
	Liberal Democrats	Daniel Cooke	1,002	43.5	+3.0
	Labour	Lynn Chesterman	279	12.1	-5.8
Majority			20	0.9	-0.2
Turnout			2,303
	Conservative hold		Swing

Hatfield Central ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Maureen Cook	530	44.3	+1.7
	Liberal Democrats	Hazel Laming	420	35.1	-0.8
	Conservative	Roger Roberts	247	20.6	-1.0
Majority			110	9.2	+2.5
Turnout			1,197
	Labour hold		Swing

Hatfield East ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Michael Long	782	55.2	-2.9
	Labour	Samuel Smith	352	24.9	-0.5
	Liberal Democrats	Lis Meyland-Smith	282	19.9	+3.4
Majority			430	30.3	-2.4
Turnout			1,416
	Conservative hold		Swing

Hatfield South (2) ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Alfred Appleby	377
	Labour	Linda Mendez	376
	Conservative	Ronald Smith	175
	Conservative	Andrew Peffer	164
	Liberal Democrats	Richard Griffiths	111
	Liberal Democrats	Sheila Archer	108
Turnout			1,311
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing

Hatfield West ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Hawkins	644	47.0	-3.5
	Labour	Roy Moss	509	37.2	-0.5
	Liberal Democrats	Simon Archer	217	15.8	+4.0
Majority			135	9.8	-3.0
Turnout			1,370
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

Hollybush ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Alan Johnson	623	55.8	-4.4
	Conservative	Yvonne Stanbury	280	25.1	-2.4
	Liberal Democrats	Janet Gammage	213	19.1	+6.8
Majority			343	30.7	-2.0
Turnout			1,116
	Labour hold		Swing

Howlands ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jill Weston	627	51.8	-1.6
	Conservative	Marian Pile	364	30.1	-1.9
	Liberal Democrats	Jonathan Arch	220	18.2	+3.6
Majority			263	21.7	+0.3
Turnout			1,211
	Labour hold		Swing

Northaw ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Mansfield	990	80.3	+0.7
	Liberal Democrats	Nigel Bain	148	12.0	+1.2
	Labour	Sheila Jones	95	7.7	-1.9
Majority			842	68.3	-0.5
Turnout			1,233
	Conservative hold		Swing

Panshanger ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Darren Bennett	615	42.4	-8.5
	Labour	Christopher Cory	453	31.3	+1.7
	Liberal Democrats	Ted Naseby	381	26.3	+6.8
Majority			162	11.1	-10.2
Turnout			1,449
	Conservative hold		Swing

Peartree ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Stephen Roberts	491	47.7	-11.4
	Liberal Democrats	Wanda Armstrong-Bridges	362	35.1	+16.7
	Conservative	David Perkins	177	17.2	-5.3
Majority			129	12.6	-24.0
Turnout			1,030
	Labour hold		Swing

Sherrards ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Burnapp	984	45.6	-1.4
	Labour	Anthony Crump	861	39.9	-2.5
	Liberal Democrats	Louise Lotz	311	14.4	+3.8
Majority			123	5.7	+1.1
Turnout			2,156
	Conservative hold		Swing

Welwyn North ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Julie Cragg	664	62.2	-1.3
	Liberal Democrats	David Bartlett	230	21.6	+4.1
	Labour	Jan Burnell	173	16.2	-2.9
Majority			434	40.6	-3.8
Turnout			1,067
	Conservative hold		Swing

Welwyn South ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Richard Smith	935	60.0	-0.8
	Labour	Julia Henderson	315	20.2	-6.5
	Liberal Democrats	Ian Skidmore	309	19.8	+7.3
Majority			620	39.8	+5.7
Turnout			1,559
	Conservative hold		Swing

References

1. "English local elections: Results". The Guardian . 2 May 2003. p. 12.
2. "Election Results". The Times . 2 May 2003. p. 17.
3. "Tories tighten grip on Welwyn Hatfield". Watford Observer . 2 May 2003. Retrieved 7 March 2010.
4. "Welwyn Hatfield Council Election Result" (PDF). Political Science Resources. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 May 2012. Retrieved 6 March 2010.