FLEET, HAMPSHIRE

'Fleet' is a town in the county of Hampshire in the south-east of England, located 38 miles (61 km) south west of London. It is part of Hart District. The population of Fleet is not counted separately by the Census, but can be calculated to be in the order of 30,000.^[1]

Contents

History

Geography

Politics and administration

Education

Culture

References

See also

External links

History

Fleet is unusual for a town of its size in that it is not on a major trunk road. This is because it developed after the construction of the London and South Western Railway, which opened in 1840. Many people came down from London to skate on Fleet Pond during the winter, and the town grew as a market town. There are thus few very old buildings in Fleet, with much of the modern town formed around Victorian buildings. As in many parts of Britain, there was a building boom in the period between the First World War and Second World War. Fleet also contains structures built in the 1960s like the parade of shops on the left of the picture below.

Fleet has expanded in the past few decades with new housing estates being built at Ancells Farm, Zebon Copse (in neighbouring Church Crookham), and Elvetham Heath. Due for completion by 2007, Elvetham Heath is one of the UK's largest new housing developments, and will add some 6,000 to Fleet's population, bringing its total population up to around 36,000, a 20% increase in less than a decade.
Two earlier developments in Fleet involved the opening of a new shopping centre, the Hart Shopping Centre, which was opened officially by HRH The Duchess Of York in 1991. On the same day, she attended the opening of the Hart Leisure Centre on Hitches Lane (towards Church Crookham). The shopping centre was itself developed further in 2001-2. The Fleet branches of Waitrose and Woolworths, both originally located on Fleet Road, are now located inside the shopping centre.
Although Fleet has traditionally been a dormitory town housing commuters to London, it now has several business parks, mainly occupied by Information Technology companies.
A plan to add a new multiplex cinema has not yet come to fruition, possibly due to lack of space.

Geography

Areas and suburbs of the town are Pondtail, Ancells Park and Elvetham Heath. The villages of Crookham and Church Crookham have also grown to be contiguous with the town. Immediately surrounding towns and villages include Winchfield, Dogmersfield, Crondall, Ewshot, and Hartley Wintney. The Fleet Pond nature reserve is a notable beauty spot on the northern edge of the town. The 'pond' itself is in fact the largest freshwater lake in Hampshire. In times past, the lake has frozen over permitting skating.^[2]
Fleet can be reached from London and Southampton via the M3 motorway. Its main road, Fleet Road, runs through the town centre from west to east. Fleet station is on the London Waterloo station to Southampton main line. The train service is run by South West Trains (formerly Network South East). Journey time to Waterloo is about 50 minutes. Express trains do the journey in under 40 minutes. There are small airports nearby at Blackbushe Airport and Farnborough Airfield. The Basingstoke Canal connects Fleet to Basingstoke and, in the other direction, London via the River Wey navigation.

Politics and administration

Fleet is administered by Hart District Council and Hampshire County Council.^[3] The parliamentary constituency is Hampshire North-East and the current (2006) Member of Parliament is James Norwich Arbuthnot who is a member of the Conservative Party.

Education

The town has a number of schools including Heatherside,^[4] All Saints,^[5] Velmead,^[6] Calthorpe Park School^[7], Court Moor School and St. Nicholas', an independent school for girls,^[8] . For a more comprehensive list of local schools see the list of Hampshire schools.

Culture

The biggest events in the town's calendar are the summer Carnival, the switching on of the Christmas lights as December approaches and the Fleet Half Marathon commonly used in preparation for the London marathon.

References

1. 2001 census information from Office for National Statistics
2. Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, Volume 4, , George, Thomson, Royal Society, ,
3. Hampshire County Council - Fleet
4. Ofsted report for Heatherside
5. Ofsted report for All Saints
6. Ofsted report for Velmead
7. Ofsted report for Calthorpe Park School
8. [1] for St. Nicholas'

See also

★ Basingstoke Canal

External links

★ Hampshire County Council - Fleet