2003 Colchester Borough Council election
The 2003 Colchester Borough Council election took place on 1 May 2003 to elect members of Colchester Borough Council in Essex, England. This was the same day as the other 2003 United Kingdom local elections. One third of the seats were up for election and the council stayed under no overall control. Background. Before the election the Conservatives were the largest party with 24 seats, the Liberal Democrats had 23 seats, Labour had 4 seats, there were 8 independents and 1 seat was vacant after the sitting Labour councillor moved to Scotland. The council was  run by a cabinet comprising 3 Conservatives, 3 Liberal Democrats and 1 Labour members. 21 seats were being contested, with 2 seats available in Wivenhoe Cross due to the vacancy. The remaining 20 seats all had the sitting councillors defending their seats and included the Labour group leader Tim Young in St Andrew's and the Conservative mayor Nigel Chapman in Fordham and Stour. Meanwhile, in High Woods, Ian Ringer, defended the seat as an independent after leaving the Liberal Democrats earlier in 2003. Election result. Prior to the election, 3 Liberal Democrat councillors from Highwoods ward defected and sat  as Independents, reducing the Liberal Democrat group to 23 councillors. Following the election Bob Newman left the Labour group to sit as an independent, reducing Labour to 4 councillors. Labour then went into opposition after refusing to work with the Conservatives and a new cabinet was formed with 4 Conservative and 4 Liberal Democrat members. Ward results. Shown below are ward results according to the council's election results archive. Three of the single-seat wards (Dedham & Langham, East Donyland, Marks Tey) were not up for election this year. Neither were three of the two-seat wards (Harbour, Lexden, St  John's). By-elections between 2003 and 2004. A by-election took place on 22 April 2004 after the death of the independent councillor Richard Davies.