East Dorset

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East Dorset District
East Dorset
Shown within Dorset
Geography
Status: District
Region: South West England
Admin. County: Dorset
Area:
- Total
Ranked 135th
354.37 km²
Admin. HQ: Furzehill, Wimborne
ONS code: 19UD
Demographics
Population:
- Total (2006 est.)
- Density
Ranked 279th
85,000
240 / km²
Ethnicity: 99.0% White
Politics

East Dorset District Council
http://www.eastdorsetdc.gov.uk/
Leadership: Alternative - Sec.31
Control: Conservative
MPs: Christopher Chope, Robert Walter

East Dorset is a local government district in Dorset, England. Its council is based in Furzehill, near Wimborne Minster.

The district was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of Wimborne Minster Urban District with part of the Ringwood and Fordingbridge Rural District and the Wimborne and Cranborne Rural District. The district was originally known as Wimborne, and adopted its present name in 1988.

The popularity of the area, being close to the New Forest, Bournemouth and the Dorset coast, has seen a rapid expansion in housing from the 1970s with the Verwood, Ferndown, West Moors and Corfe Mullen populations more than quadrupling. There still remains a rural feel, however, especially in the north and west of the area. Wimborne Minster has managed to retain its identity as a historic market town.

East Dorset also contains a large amount of the remaining lowland heath, managed by East Dorset Countryside Management Services in partnership with the Forestry Commission. The expansion of housing has led to a massive decrease in the area of this unusual and unique habitat, which once covered 500 km² but now covers only 15% of that.

Statistics released[1] by the Office for National Statistics show that life expectancy at birth for males in East Dorset was 80.1 years in 2001-2003, the highest in the United Kingdom. Female life expectancy at birth for the same period was 83.4 years, ranking seventh in the UK. The figures for East Dorset during 1991-1993 were 77.9 years for males and 82.5 for females.

[edit] Settlements

Settlements with a population over 2,500 are in bold.

[edit] References