2003 Craven District Council election

The 2003 Craven District Council election took place on 1 May 2003 to elect members of Craven District Council in North Yorkshire, 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:

Background

Before the election the Conservatives were the largest group with 13 seats, while there 9 Liberal Democrats and 8 independents.^[3] However the council was controlled by an alliance between independents and Liberal Democrats.^[3]

10 of the 30 seats on the council were elected in 2003, with the Conservatives defending 6, independents 3 and the Liberal Democrats defended 1 seat.^[3] Two of the three independents were re-elected without opposition.^[3]

Election result

Independents gained 2 seats from the Conservatives to mean there were 10 independent councillors on the council.^[4] The independent gains from the Conservatives came in Skipton East where Mike Hill was elected, and in West Craven where Robert Mason gained a seat.^[5] Meanwhile, another independent, Robert Heseltine, regained a seat on the council 3 years after having been forced to resign his seat due to being convicted of falsifying accounts, after defeating the sitting independent councillor Frances Cook by 217 votes in Skipton South.^[5]

Despite losing 2 seats the Conservatives remained the largest group on the council with 11 councillors, after holding another 4 seats.^[5] Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats stayed on 9 seats, after holding the only seat they had been defending in Skipton West.^[5]

Craven local election result 2003^[2]^[6]
	Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
Independent	5	2	0	+2	50.0	30.0	2,020	-0.9%
Conservative	4	0	2	-2	40.0	45.7	3,079	+5.6%
Liberal Democrats	1	0	0	0	10.0	24.3	1,633	-3.8%

Ward results

Bentham^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Gerald Hurtley	521	51.5
	Independent	Manuel Camacho	490	48.5
Majority			31	3.1
Turnout			1,011
	Conservative hold		Swing

Embsay with Eastby^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	John Quinn	404	67.0
	Independent	Dennis Hall	199	33.0
Majority			205	34.0
Turnout			603
	Conservative hold		Swing

Gargrave and Malhamdale^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	David Crawford	596	58.5
	Liberal Democrats	Andrew Wood	422	41.5
Majority			174	17.1
Turnout			1,018
	Conservative hold		Swing

Glusburn^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Roger Nicholson	unopposed
	Independent hold		Swing

Skipton East^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Michael Hill	423	41.7
	Conservative	Pamela Heseltine	320	31.5
	Liberal Democrats	Darren Moorby	272	26.8
Majority			103	10.1
Turnout			1,015
	Independent gain from Conservative		Swing

Skipton North^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Marcia Turner	604	56.4
	Liberal Democrats	Andrew Rankine	466	43.6
Majority			138	12.9
Turnout			1,070
	Conservative hold		Swing

Skipton South^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Robert Heseltine	412	57.5
	Independent	Frances Cook	195	27.2
	Conservative	Kenneth Creek	110	15.3
Majority			217	30.3
Turnout			717
	Independent gain from Independent		Swing

Skipton West^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal Democrats	Pauline English	473	67.0
	Conservative	Paul Whitaker	233	33.0
Majority			240	34.0
Turnout			706
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Sutton-in-Craven^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Kenneth Hart	unopposed
	Independent hold		Swing

West Craven^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Robert Mason	301	50.8	+16.2
	Conservative	John Binns	291	49.2	+5.6
Majority			10	1.7
Turnout			592
	Independent gain from Conservative		Swing

By-elections between 2003 and 2004

A by-election was held in Bentham on 13 November 2003 after the resignation of Liberal Democrat councillor John Pilkington on his being charged by police with child pornography.^[7]^[8] The seat was gained by an independent Manuel Camacho with a majority of 107 votes over Conservative John Jackson.^[7]^[8]

Bentham by-election 13 November 2003^[7]^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Manuel Camacho	474	56.4	+7.9
	Conservative	John Jackson	367	43.6	−7.9
Majority			107	12.8	N/A
Turnout			841	29.6
	Independent gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing

References

^ "Local elections". BBC News Online. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
^ ^a ^b "Election results". Financial Times. NewsBank. 2 May 2003. p. 4.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Craven: Contests in 8 wards". Cumbria County Publications. NewsBank. 11 April 2003.
^ Robinson-Tate, Michaela (2 May 2003). "Election: Craven results". Cumbria County Publications. NewsBank.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Councillor wins back seat after criminal conviction". West Yorkshire and North Yorkshire Counties Publications. NewsBank. 2 May 2003.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k "Craven District Council - Election results". Craven District Council. Political Science Resources. Archived from the original on 12 March 2015. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Election for seat of accused councillor". West Yorkshire and North Yorkshire Counties Publications. NewsBank. 24 October 2003.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Independents win in byelection polls". Press Association. The Guardian. 14 November 2003. Retrieved 13 March 2015.