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]

1 History
2 Transport
3 Suburbs
4 Local Government
5 Education
6 Notes of Interest
7 See also
8 References
9 External links

[edit] 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 beteen 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.

The end of Fleet's main high street

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.

[edit] Transport

[edit] Road

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.

[edit] Rail

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.

[edit] Other

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 but is no longer used for transport.

Immediately surrounding towns and villages include Church Crookham, Crookham Village, Winchfield, Dogmersfield, Crondall, Ewshot, and Hartley Wintney.

[edit] Suburbs

Pondtail, Ancells Park, Elvetham Heath, Church Crookham (commonly considered as a separate sub-town of Fleet).

[edit] Local Government

Fleet is administered by Hart District Council and Hampshire County Council. ^[2] 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.

[edit] Education

The town has a number of schools including Heatherside ^[3], All Saints ^[4], Velmead ^[5], Calthorpe Park School ^[6] and Court Moor School. For a more comprehensive list of local schools see the list of Hampshire schools.

[edit] Notes of Interest

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. The biggest events in the town's calendar are the summer Carnival and the switching on of the Christmas lights as December approaches.