Greater Southampton

Encyclopedia : G : GR : GRE : Greater Southampton

Greater Southampton is an unofficial term for the conurbation surrounding Southampton in Hampshire, England. It has been variously defined as the Southampton Travel to Work Area, and the Office for National Statistics have referred to it as the Southampton Urban Area with a population of around 442,969 (2001 census) which includes the following components:

The City of Southampton which is a unitary authority itself makes up just over half the population

Southampton: 217,445
Eastleigh: 116,169
Test Valley (part of): 21,248
New Forest (part of): 66,107
Fareham (part of): 22,000

The Southampton urban area can be looked at as part of a larger multi-centered conurbation also including Greater Portsmouth, in the general South Hampshire region.

In the lead up to the Local Government Act 1972 there was an active proposal to make South Hampshire into a fully fledged metropolitan county - the other candiates were Avon and Cleveland - none of these three were eventually adopted as such but Avon and Cleveland and also Humberside were created as administrative counties, but not as "metropolitan" counties. The various cities and boroughs of South Hampshire remained under control of Hampshire County Council based at Winchester. However, in 1997, the City of Southampton became a unitary authority.

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