The 2003 Redditch Borough Council election took place on 1 May 2003 to elect members of

Redditch Borough Council Redditch Borough Council is the local authority for Redditch, a non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Worcestershire, England. History The town of Redditch was made a Local board of health#Loc ...

in the

West Midlands region The West Midlands is one of nine official regions of England at the ITL 1 statistical regions of England, first level of International Territorial Level for Statistics, statistical purposes. It covers the western half of the area known tradit ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. One third of the council was up for election and the council stayed under

no overall control In the context of local authorities in the United Kingdom no overall control (NOC; ) is a situation in which no single political group achieves a majority of seats, comparable to a hung parliament. Of the 248 councils who had members up for elec ...

. After the election, the composition of the council was: *

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

14 * Labour 10 *

Liberal Democrat Several political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party, Democratic Liberal Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties have usually followed liberalism as ideology, although they can vary widely from very progr ...

Campaign

The Conservative Party was hoping to gain control over the council, which before the election was controlled by Labour with the support of the Liberal Democrats. 10 seats were being contested with the Labour Party defending 6 of the seats. Labour needed to gain one seat to regain their majority, while the Conservatives needed 3 gains to also win a majority. The key wards targeted by the Conservatives were Central, Greenlands and Lodge Park. The Conservatives were hoping to gain from voters who were unhappy over council tax rises and they pledged to only increase it by the

inflation rate In economics, inflation is an increase in the average price of goods and services in terms of money. This increase is measured using a price index, typically a consumer price index (CPI). When the general price level rises, each unit of curre ...

over the next three years if they won control. Meanwhile, Labour pledged to use new powers to tackle

anti-social behaviour Anti-social behaviours, sometimes called dissocial behaviours, are actions which are considered to violate the rights of or otherwise harm others by committing crime or nuisance, such as stealing and physical attack or noncriminal behaviours s ...

and said they were making a difference in the town. Other issues raised in the election included an Audit Commission report on the housing department and the poor use of tourist attractions in the borough.

Election result

The results saw the Labour Party lose four seats, two each to the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats. The Liberal Democrats gained in Church Hill and Winyates, while the Conservatives gained Central and Greenlands. Among the Labour losses was the wife of the Labour leader, Helen Cartwright, and the

planning committee A planning committee in the United Kingdom is a committee of local authority councillors that sit as the local planning authority to determine planning applications. Advice is usually given to the committee by planning officers who provide a re ...

chairman, Clive Cheetham. The new Conservative

councillor A councillor, alternatively councilman, councilwoman, councilperson, or council member, is someone who sits on, votes in, or is a member of, a council. This is typically an elected representative of an electoral district in a municipal or re ...

from Central ward, Mohammed Farooqui, became the youngest member of the council at the age of 24. As a result, the Conservatives became the largest party on the council with 14 seats. They had only just missed winning a majority on the council after failing to gain Lodge Park by 64 votes.

Ward results

References

{{United Kingdom local elections, 2003

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

2003 English local elections 2000s in Worcestershire