2003 Harlow District Council election

2003 Harlow District Council election

← 2002 1 May 2003 2004 →
11 of the 33 seats to Harlow District Council 17 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Party Conservative Liberal Democrats Labour Seats before 12 12 9 Seats won 4 4 3 Seats after 12 12 9 Seat change 0 0 0 Popular vote 4,610 3,915 5,394 Percentage 32.7% 27.8% 38.3%
Map showing the results of contested wards in the 2003 Harlow District Council elections.
Council control before election No overall control Council control after election No overall control

The 2003 Harlow District Council election took place on 1 May 2003 to elect members of Harlow District Council in Essex, England. One third of the council was up for election and the council stayed under no overall control.^[1]

After the election, the composition of the council was

• Conservative 12
• Liberal Democrats 12
• Labour 9^[2]

Before the election both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats had 12 councillors, while Labour had 9 seats.^[3]

A total of 36 candidates stood for the 11 seats that were being contested, with the councillors who got the lowest number of votes from the 2002 election defending their seats.^[3] One Labour councillor, John Cave, stood down at the election after 32 years, while 3 former Labour councillors and 1 former Liberal Democrat councillor attempted to regain seats.^[3] Among the councillors defending their seats was the Conservative group leader Andrew Johnson in Sumners and Kingsmoor ward.^[3]

There was no change in the party situation on the council with no party gaining a majority.^[4] The closest result was in Bush Fair ward where Liberal Democrat Chris Millington held the seat by 39 votes, but the Liberal Democrat council chairman Nick Macy was not re-elected after contesting the Labour held seat in Little Parndon and Hare Street.^[5] Overall turnout at the election was 29%.^[6]

However an enquiry was started after the election as 3,279 postal votes had to be rejected as they did not have an official mark on them.^[7]

Harlow local election result 2003^[2][6]

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Conservative	4	0	0		36.4	32.7	4,610	0.9
	Liberal Democrats	4	0	0		36.4	27.8	3,915	1.9
	Labour	3	0	0		27.3	38.3	5,394	0.6
	Socialist Alliance	0	0	0		0	1.3	181	0.7