Worthing Borough Council election, 2003

The 2003 Worthing Borough Council election took place on 1 May 2003 to elect members of Worthing Borough Council in West Sussex, England. One third of the council was up for election and the Liberal Democrats lost overall control of the council to no overall control. ^[1] Overall turnout was 28.61%. ^[2]

The election saw 38 candidates from 4 parties competing for the 13 seats which were being contested. ^[3] 7 sitting councillors stood down at the election which saw the Liberal Democrats attempting to defend the majority they had won in the previous election in 2002. ^[3] The Liberal Democrats campaigned on the record of their "Clean and Safe Worthing" campaign and on plans to upgrade the leisure centre and replace the Aquarena. ^[3] However the Conservatives attacked them for stopping improvements to the seafront and for the poor state of facilities in Worthing. ^[3] The Green and Labour parties also stood candidates but did not contest all of the wards with Labour only putting up 3 candidates. ^[3]

The results saw the Conservatives make one gain from the Liberal Democrats in Selden ward, ^[4] with the winner, Jack Saheid, becoming the first Muslim councillor on Worthing council. ^[5] After the Liberal Democrats failed by 6 votes to gain Gaisford from the Conservatives, both parties ended the election on 18 seats making Worthing a hung council. ^[5] The results meant that the Liberal Democrat mayor of Worthing had the casting vote on the council. ^[6]

After the election, the composition of the council was

• Conservative 18
• Liberal Democrat 18 ^[7]

Election result

Worthing Local Election Result 2003 ^{[5] [8]}

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Conservative	8	1	0	+1	61.5	51.8	12,297	+6.9%
	Liberal Democrat	5	0	1	-1	38.5	41.0	9,724	-2.9%
	Green	0	0	0	0	0	5.1	1,210	+1.6%
	Labour	0	0	0	0	0	2.1	503	-5.5%

Ward results

Broadwater ^{[2] [5]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal Democrat	Geraldine Lissenburg	1,069	65.9	-2.9
	Conservative	Heather Mercer	427	26.3	+4.0
	Green	Derek Colkett	125	7.7	+7.7
Majority			642	39.6	-6.9
Turnout			1,621	25.0	-0.8
	Liberal Democrat hold		Swing

Castle ^{[2] [5]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal Democrat	Claire Potter	923	54.5	+3.5
	Conservative	John Rogers	771	45.5	+12.1
Majority			152	9.0	-8.6
Turnout			1,694	28.6	-3.1
	Liberal Democrat hold		Swing

Central ^{[2] [5]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal Democrat	Geoffrey Hart	667	47.4	-11.3
	Conservative	Martin Coppard	472	33.5	+4.6
	Labour	Brian Gill	158	11.2	-1.2
	Green	Alice-Amanda Hinton	111	7.9	+7.9
Majority			195	13.9	-15.9
Turnout			1,408	24.4	-2.1
	Liberal Democrat hold		Swing

Durrington ^{[2] [5]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal Democrat	Nick Rodgers	1,168	56.3	-8.5
	Conservative	Alan Whiteley	787	37.9	+8.9
	Green	John Dwyer	121	5.8	-0.4
Majority			381	18.4	-17.4
Turnout			2,076	25.1	-5.0
	Liberal Democrat hold		Swing

Gaisford ^{[2] [5]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	George Stephens	752	45.7	+7.9
	Liberal Democrat	Antony Price	746	45.3	-3.8
	Green	Marie Hillcoat	149	9.0	+4.5
Majority			6	0.4
Turnout			1,647	25.5	-4.8
	Conservative hold		Swing

Goring ^{[2] [5]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Peter Welch	1,732	73.4	+2.1
	Liberal Democrat	Brian Stephenson	628	26.6	-2.1
Majority			1,104	46.8	+4.2
Turnout			2,360	35.4	-2.2
	Conservative hold		Swing

Heene (2) ^{[2] [5]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Tim Dice	996
	Conservative	Paul High	949
	Liberal Democrat	Alan Jones	513
	Liberal Democrat	Kevin Skepper	418
	Green	Heather Rogers	191
Turnout			3,067	25.2	-2.1
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Marine ^{[2] [5]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Tom Wye	1,282	63.6	+2.9
	Liberal Democrat	Peter Medcalf	373	18.5	-0.6
	Labour	Peter Barnes	222	11.0	-0.3
	Green	Lucielle Colkett	140	6.9	-2.0
Majority			909	45.1	+3.5
Turnout			2,017	31.4	-0.3
	Conservative hold		Swing

Offington ^{[2] [5]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Mark McCarthy	1,490	69.7	+5.1
	Liberal Democrat	David Moynan	489	22.9	-0.2
	Green	Rosemary Hook	160	7.5	+2.2
Majority			1,001	46.8	+5.3
Turnout			2,139	33.7	-1.0
	Conservative hold		Swing

Salvington ^{[2] [5]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Jacqueline Marsh	1,100	60.3	-0.3
	Liberal Democrat	Mark O'Keeffe	723	39.7	+11.3
Majority			377	20.6	-11.6
Turnout			1,940	27.9	-1.9
	Conservative hold		Swing

Selden ^{[2] [5]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Jack Saheid	1,053	51.2	+15.5
	Liberal Democrat	Christine Brown	872	42.4	-2.4
	Green	Dave Yates	130	6.3	+1.8
Majority			181	8.8
Turnout			2,055	33.9	+0.4
	Conservative gain from Liberal Democrat		Swing

Tarring ^{[2] [5]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal Democrat	John Lovell	1,135	62.1	-6.7
	Conservative	Gavin Clark	486	26.6	+3.5
	Labour	Ian Sandell	123	6.7	-1.4
	Green	Benjamin Colkett	83	4.5	+4.5
Majority			649	35.5	-10.2
Turnout			1,827	27.6	-1.3
	Liberal Democrat hold		Swing

References

1. "Election Results". The Times. 2003-05-02. p. 17. 
2. "Worthing borough council elections 1 May 2003" (PDF). Political Science Resources. Retrieved 2009-10-11. 
3. "Worthing council". The Argus . 2003-04-21. Retrieved 2009-10-11. 
4. "Tories cheer votes victory". The Argus . 2003-05-02. Retrieved 2009-10-12. 
5. "Worthing borough council: no overall control". The Argus . 2003-05-02. Retrieved 2009-10-11. 
6. "Parties in storm over control". The Argus . 2003-05-07. Retrieved 2009-10-12. 
7. "English local elections: Results". The Guardian. 2003-05-02. p. 12. 
8. "Election results". Financial Times. 2003-05-02. p. 4.