Whiteley
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Whiteley is a community in the county of Hampshire, England, near Fareham. The development straddles two council districts: the Borough of Fareham to the South and the City of Winchester to the North and East. The town has an overwhelmingly young (79% under 44 years [1]), white (96.95%[2]), home-owning (87.23%[3]) population of professionals and aspirational skilled workers (80% in social grade AB and C1 [4]). Whiteley is reported by the local health authority to have a higher than average rate of divorce and separation (11% versus 6% nationally [5]), domestic violence and depression.[citation needed]
Construction of the town started around 1990 to help alleviate housing problems across the South-East of England. The first houses were completed in the early 1990s, although construction halted for a period of five or more years following a crash in the British residential property market during the mid 1990s. From 1996 construction recommenced and continues today.
The part of the town which falls in the Winchester district became a civil parish in 2003.
The town is situated just off Junction 9 of the M27 motorway. Apart from the residential areas, which house around 6,000 residents, the main focus is the Whiteley Village outlet centre [6]. This pedestrianised shopping centre consists of a number of discount stores, particularly designer fashions.
One of the earliest buildings in Whiteley was the Solent Hotel and Spa which was constructed in the early 1990s. This large hotel and associated public house are frequented by famous celebrities and sports teams visiting the Portsmouth and Southampton areas.
Whiteley also contains the sizeable Solent Business Park which consists of a number of large offices, including Zurich Financial Services and Lloyds TSB. The most recent and high profile additions to the park are the new headquarters for National Air Traffic Services and the offices of ITV Meridian. Development at the business part continues as further offices are constructed.
The town has in the past been plagued by problems owing to a lack of planning for local amenities. Consequently, there is an over-subscribed primary school, and there are few local shops. These problems have been addressed in part by the construction of a local centre having medical facilities, shops and a community centre. A new primary school has been identified as being needed and land had been controversially identified adjacent to (and using a proportion of) the recreational ground in the town. Winchester City Council agreed to consider selling the land but later decided not to sell because of the complexities of the planning required, the lack of replacement land, a report from an official sports body regarding the movement of pitches and because of a number of personal objections to the proposal sent to the City Council by Whiteley residents.
Additionally, a new state-of-the-art doctor's surgery has been completed and opened on Yew Tree Drive. It contains a doctors' practice, pharmacy and hopes to have a dental practice in the future. Other medical facilities including NHS dentists and a physiotherapy clinic are housed in purpose-built accommodation at Gull Coppice local centre.
Further problems arise due to poor planning of the local transport infrastructure. The town enjoys only one primary route in and out (via the M27 Junction 9 roundabout), although a controversial secondary route through a residential area is often used by local traffic. The construction of further transport links to surrounding major routes are restricted by issues surrounding land acquisition (anticipated by compulsory purchase) and associated costs. Consequently, during rush hour, much traffic congestion is experienced on and around the M27 Junction 9 roundabout, although this has been significantly alleviated by the introduction of well designed traffic controls.
