The 2003 election saw new ward boundaries used which increased the number of seats by 2 to 60.

[3][4][5] New ward boundaries came into effect for the election, which increased the number of seats by two.

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 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.