Pendle Borough Council election, 2003

Map of the results of the 2003 Pendle Borough Council election. Liberal Democrats in yellow and Conservatives in blue. Wards in dark grey were not contested in 2003.

The 2003 Pendle Borough Council election took place on 1 May 2003 to elect members of Pendle Borough Council in Lancashire, 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

• Liberal Democrat 23
• Labour 15
• Conservative 11^[2]

Campaign

Before the election the council had 19 Labour, 19 Liberal Democrat and 11 Conservative councillors,^[3] with Labour holding power as a minority administration.^[4] 18 seats were being elected, with 2 seats contested in Boulsworth after the death of councillor Jo Belbin.^[3] In total 63 candidates stood, with only one sitting councillor, Abdul Jabbar in Brierfield, not standing for re-election.^[3] As well as candidates from the Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat parties, there were also 3 candidates from the Socialist Alliance, 4 independents and 4 from the British National Party.^[3][4] This was the first time the British National Party had put up candidates in Pendle.^[3]

Issues in the election included the proposed redevelopment of Nelson town centre, plans for an A56 bypass and the proposed demolition of houses in Nelson West.^[5] Other issues as usual were council tax levels, litter, street safety and crime, while the national issue of the Iraq War was expected to influence voters.^[5]

Election result

The results saw the Liberal Democrats become the largest party on the council, but without a majority, after making four gains from Labour.^[6] This took the Liberal Democrats to 23 seats, compared to 15 for Labour and 11 Conservatives,^[6] after the Liberal Democrats nearly won as many votes as the Conservative and Labour parties combined.^[7] The Labour leader of the council, Azhar Ali, was among the councillors to lose their seats in the election, which saw the party fail to win any seats.^[6] Ali blamed the defeats both on a backlash against the Iraq War and on an alleged "dirty tricks campaign".^[6] Meanwhile, the British National Party failed to win any seats, but did poll a significant number of votes.^[8]

Following the election many of the Liberal Democrat councillors boycotted the swearing in of a new mayor in protest against the way he was elected instead of the previous years deputy mayor.^[9][10] Liberal Democrat Alan Davies became the new leader of the council, but his party initially refused to take places on the executive committee.^[11] This was because the council had voted for a 4-3-3 party split on the committee rather than the 5-3-2 split the Liberal Democrats had proposed.^[11] Meanwhile, the Labour group chose Frank Clifford to become the new leader of their group.^[12]

Ward results

References

Council elections in Lancashire
County Council	1889 1892 1895 1898 1901 1904 1907 1910 1913 1919 1922 1925 1928 1931 1934 1937 1946 1949 1952 1955 1958 1961 1964 1967 1970 1973 1977 1981 1985 1989 1993 1997 2001 2005 2009 2013 2017
Blackburn with Darwen	1973 1976 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1997 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 2016
Blackpool	1973 1976 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1997 2000 2003 2007 2011 2015
Burnley	1973 1976 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 2016
Chorley	1973 1976 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 2016
Fylde	1973 1976 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015
Hyndburn	1973 1976 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 2016
Lancaster	1973 1976 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015
Pendle	1973 1976 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 2016
Preston	1945 1946 1947 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1973 1975 1976 1978 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 2016
Ribble Valley	1973 1976 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015
Rossendale	1973 1976 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 2016
South Ribble	1973 1976 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015
West Lancashire	1973 1976 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 2016
Wyre	1973 1976 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015
See also: Wards Boundary changes

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