Wokingham District Council election, 2003

The 2003 Wokingham District Council election took place on 1 May 2003 to elect members of Wokingham Unitary Council in Berkshire, 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 33
• Liberal Democrat 20
• Labour 1 ^[2]

Election result

18 seats were contested with the Liberal Democrats defending 10, the Conservatives 7, while 1 seat was held by an independent. ^[3] The results saw this situation turned round with the Conservatives winning 10 seats as compared to 8 for the Liberal Democrats. ^[4] The Conservatives gained seats from the Liberal Democrats in Emmbrook and Little Hungerford wards, while also recovering Sonning which had been held by an independent who had defected from the Conservatives. ^[4] There was controversy over the result in Whitegates when the Returning Officer initially read the results out as a Conservative gain, while the actual vote count was a Liberal Democrat hold. ^[3] Overall turnout in the election was 30.4%. ^[4]

The Conservatives described the results as an endorsement of their record, while the Liberal Democrats called them disappointing but were pleased that their vote share had increased from 2002. ^[3]

Wokingham Local Election Result 2003 ^[2]

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Conservative	10	3	0	+3	55.6	48.4	14,234	-0.7%
	Liberal Democrat	8	0	2	-2	44.4	41.3	12,124	+2.9%
	Labour	0	0	0	0	0	7.1	2,087	-1.8%
	UKIP	0	0	0	0	0	2.5	747	-0.1%
	Monster Raving Loony	0	0	0	0	0	0.6	188	+0.6%
	Independent	0	0	1	-1	0	0	0	-0.9%

Ward results

Barkham ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Pamela Stubbs	399	76.0	-4.9
	Liberal Democrat	Robert Bradshaw	65	12.4	+1.3
	UKIP	Jeremy Allison	61	11.6	+11.6
Majority			334	63.6	-6.2
Turnout			525	28.5	-2.0
	Conservative hold		Swing

Coronation ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal Democrat	Carol Jewell	847	43.3
	Conservative	Mark Wilkins	770	39.3
	UKIP	Amy Thornton	210	10.7
	Labour	Ian Hills	131	6.7
Majority			77	4.0
Turnout			1,958	34.3	-2.4
	Liberal Democrat hold		Swing

Emmbrook ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Ullakarim Clark	794	47.8	-3.9
	Liberal Democrat	Josephine Shockley	571	34.4	+2.0
	UKIP	Ann Davis	173	10.4	+1.7
	Labour	John Ferguson	123	7.4	+0.3
Majority			223	13.4	-5.9
Turnout			1,661	35.7	-3.8
	Conservative gain from Liberal Democrat		Swing

Evendons ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal Democrat	Tina Marinos	1,210	48.2	+9.0
	Conservative	Christopher Bowring	1,130	45.0	-4.9
	Labour	John Baker	172	6.8	+0.9
Majority			80	3.2
Turnout			2,512	29.8	-1.9
	Liberal Democrat hold		Swing

Finchampstead South ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Muriel Long	897	67.7	-3.8
	Liberal Democrat	Roland Cundy	428	32.3	+3.8
Majority			469	35.4	-7.6
Turnout			1,325	28.5	-1.4
	Conservative hold		Swing

Little Hungerford ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	David Chopping	1,261	47.2	-3.6
	Liberal Democrat	Diana Buckley-Carpenter	1,219	45.6	+6.0
	Labour	Jacqueline Rupert	193	7.2	-2.4
Majority			42	1.6	-9.6
Turnout			2,673	33.3	-0.6
	Conservative gain from Liberal Democrat		Swing

Loddon ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal Democrat	Christopher Clacey	778	56.0	+8.1
	Conservative	Lee Clarke	410	29.5	-2.7
	Labour	Janice Kite	202	14.5	-0.6
Majority			368	26.5	+10.8
Turnout			1,390	21.8	-1.2
	Liberal Democrat hold		Swing

Norreys ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	David Lee	1,230	66.3	+7.3
	Liberal Democrat	Michael Harper	382	20.6	+2.0
	Labour	Paul Sharples	243	13.1	-4.6
Majority			848	45.7	+5.3
Turnout			1,855	30.1	-3.5
	Conservative hold		Swing

Redhatch ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal Democrat	Fiona Rolls	1,389	44.5	-8.7
	Conservative	Norman Jorgensen	1,316	42.2	+5.4
	Labour	David Sharp	226	7.2	-2.9
	Monster Raving Loony	Peter Owen	188	6.0	+6.0
Majority			73	2.3	-14.1
Turnout			3,119	25.9	+1.1
	Liberal Democrat hold		Swing

Remenham & Wargrave ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Frank Browne	828	67.1	-1.9
	Liberal Democrat	Lindsay Ferris	406	32.9	+1.9
Majority			422	34.2	-3.8
Turnout			1,234	36.5	-5.3
	Conservative hold		Swing

Shinfield ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Barrie Patman	1,041	64.9	+1.0
	Labour	Jacqueline Pluves	293	18.3	+3.1
	Liberal Democrat	Rebecca Rowland	271	16.9	-4.0
Majority			748	46.6	+3.6
Turnout			1,605	26.8	-1.2
	Conservative hold		Swing

Sonning ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Anthony Rimell	376	71.8	-12.5
	Liberal Democrat	Robert Samuel	88	16.8	+7.8
	UKIP	Peter Williams	32	6.1	+6.1
	Labour	Michael Irving	28	5.3	-1.4
Majority			288	55.0	-19.7
Turnout			524	45.3	-0.1
	Conservative gain from Independent		Swing

South Lake ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal Democrat	Kay Gilder	804	76.1	+23.1
	Conservative	William Henderson	253	23.9	+4.1
Majority			551	52.2	+19.0
Turnout			1,057	23.7	-0.5
	Liberal Democrat hold		Swing

Twyford & Ruscombe ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal Democrat	Christine Ferris	1,361	62.2	+0.6
	Conservative	John Jarvis	665	30.4	-0.4
	Labour	Roy Mantel	162	7.4	-0.2
Majority			696	31.8	+1.0
Turnout			2,188	38.0	-1.7
	Liberal Democrat hold		Swing

Wescott ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	John Green	686	55.1	+5.4
	Liberal Democrat	Stephen Bacon	331	26.6	-10.5
	Labour	Anna Nemeth	116	9.3	-3.8
	UKIP	Franklin Carstairs	111	8.9	+8.9
Majority			355	28.5	+15.9
Turnout			1,244	32.9	-32.1
	Conservative hold		Swing

Whitegates ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal Democrat	George Storry	666	58.8	+10.3
	Conservative	Abdul Loyes	268	23.7	-1.3
	Labour	Pippa White	198	17.5	-9.0
Majority			398	35.1	+13.1
Turnout			1,132	38.4	-29.1
	Liberal Democrat hold		Swing

Winnersh ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal Democrat	Prue Bray	947	49.7	+19.3
	Conservative	Anthony Hill	797	41.9	-8.1
	UKIP	Anthony Pollock	160	8.4	+8.4
Majority			150	7.8
Turnout			1,904	32.0	-2.8
	Liberal Democrat hold		Swing

Wokingham Without ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Perry Lewis	1,113	75.5
	Liberal Democrat	Philip Bristow	361	24.5
Majority			752	51.0
Turnout			1,474	28.1
	Conservative hold		Swing

References

1. "Election 2003: full results and analysis". London: guardian.co.uk . Archived from the original on 27 August 2006. Retrieved 11 January 2010. 
2. "Local election results". Wokingham Borough Council. Retrieved 11 January 2010. 
3. "Woky's true blue". Reading Evening Post . 2 May 2003. Retrieved 12 January 2010. 
4. "Tories in true blue victory". getwokingham. 7 May 2003. Retrieved 12 January 2010.