| Election Name: | 2003 New Forest District Council election |
| Popular Vote1: | 23,803 |
| After Election: | Conservative |
| Posttitle: | Council control after election |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 1999 New Forest District Council election |
| Previous Year: | 1999 |
| Election Date: | 1 May 2003 |
| Seats1: | 32 |
| Type: | Parliamentary |
| Party1: | Conservative Party (UK) |
| Country: | England |
| Seats Before1: | 29 |
| Seat Change1: | 3 |
| Before Election: | Conservative |
| Council control | |
| Party Colour: | yes |
| Seat Change2: | 1 |
| Next Election: | 2007 New Forest District Council election |
| Seats For Election: | All 60 seats to New Forest District Council |
| Majority Seats: | 31 |
| Popular Vote2: | 18,712 |
| Seats2: | 27 |
| Seats Before2: | 26 |
| Party2: | Liberal Democrats (UK) |
| Popular Vote3: | 2,723 |
| Seats3: | 1 |
| Seats Before3: | 3 |
| Seat Change3: | 2 |
| Party3: | Independent politician |
| Next Year: | 2007 |
The 2003 New Forest District Council election took place on 1 May 2003 to elect members to the New Forest District Council, on the same day as other local elections. The 2003 election saw new ward boundaries used which increased the number of seats by 2 to 60.[1] [2] The election saw the Conservatives win 32 seats out of the 31 required for a majority, with the Liberal Democrats winning 27 seats and one independent win.[3] [4] [5]
New ward boundaries came into effect for the election, which increased the number of seats by two. Prior to the election, a by-election took place in Pennington, which saw the Liberal Democrats gaining the seat from the Conservatives, meaning that prior to the election the Conservatives held 29 seats (50.00%), the Liberal Democrats held 36 seats (44.82%) and three independents held seats (5.17%). After the election, the Conservatives held 32 seats (53.33%) and the Liberal Democrats held 27 (45.00%), with only one independent hold (1.66%)
The Liberal Democrats performed best in the East of the district, as well as the North West, taking eight out of ten Totton seats, all six Hythe and Dibden seats, and all four seats in the Fawley, Blackfield and Holbury area. The Conservatives meanwhile performed well across the rest of the district.
The table below only tallies the votes of the highest polling candidate for each party within each ward. This is known as the top candidate method and is often used for multi-member plurality elections.