The original Eastleigh borough was formed in 1936 following the incorporation of the former Eastleigh Urban District Council. The borough as it is today was formed in 1974, when the existing Borough of Eastleigh expanded to include part of the former Winchester Rural District as a result of the Local Government Act 1972. The borough's Latinmotto, "Salus populi suprema lex" translates as "The Welfare of the People is the most important Law".[2]
The borough's origins begin with the formation of an ecclesiastical parish covering the hamlets of Eastley and Barton in 1868, in an area which was beginning to be developed around Bishopstoke railway station which had opened in 1839 to serve the older village of Bishopstoke a mile to the east.[3][4] Author Charlotte Mary Yonge, a resident of Otterbourne, donated £500 (£60,000 at 2024 values)[5] towards the cost of building a parish church and in return was asked which of the two villages to name the parish after; she chose Eastley, but also chose to alter the spelling to Eastleigh as she considered this more modern.[3][6] The parish grew rapidly: it had a population of 515 in 1871, over 1,000 in 1881 and 3,613 in 1891.[3]
Despite the creation of the ecclesiastical parish, Eastleigh remained part of the civil parish of South Stoneham. In order to facilitate the creation of pavements with kerbs, drains and sewers, and street lights, a local government district covering the ecclesiastical parish of Eastleigh was established in 1893, governed by a local board.[3][7] Such districts were converted into urban districts in 1894, when Eastleigh was also made its own civil parish. Eastleigh Urban District was enlarged to take in the community of Bishopstoke in 1899, becoming the Eastleigh and Bishopstoke Urban District. The name was changed back to just Eastleigh in 1932.[8]
The first Eastleigh Borough was incorporated in 1936 under the Municipal Corporations Act 1882. This conversion from Eastleigh Urban District Council to Eastleigh Borough Council allowed the authority to create byelaws and appoint a mayor. Notice of the petition for incorporation was served on the 1February 1936, and the matter being raised for consideration on 16March, along with petitions for the creation of boroughs for Crosby and Sale in North West England, among others.[9]
The council has a strong tradition of attending to environmental matters and in 2008 was named a beacon council under the theme "Tackling Climate Change".[16]
Political control
The council has been under Liberal Democrat majority control since 1994.
The first election to the council was held in 1973, initially acting as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities until the new arrangements took effect on 1 April 1974. Political control since 1974 has been as follows:[17]
The role of mayor is largely ceremonial in Eastleigh. Political leadership is instead provided by the leader of the council. The leaders since 1976 have been:[18]
Since the last boundary changes in 2018 the council has comprised 39 councillors representing 14 wards, with each ward electing two or three councillors. Elections are held three years out of every four, with roughly a third of the council being elected each time for a four year term of office. Hampshire County Council elections are held in the fourth year of the cycle when there are no borough council elections.[20][21]
Old Town Hall, Leigh Road: Council's headquarters 1899–1974, now The Point theatre
The council has its main offices at Eastleigh House on Upper Market Street in Eastleigh.[23] The building does not have a council chamber and so full council meetings are held in various locations, including The Point, a theatre which is the former town hall that was built in 1899 for the old Eastleigh and Bishopstoke Urban District Council. It remained the town hall until 1974 when new offices were built at the junction of Leigh Road and Villeneuve St Georges Way.[24]
Civic Offices, Leigh Road: Council's headquarters 1974–2014, since demolished.
Between 1974 and 2014 the council was based at Civic Offices on Leigh Road, before moving to Eastleigh House, an existing office building in the town centre which was refurbished and extended to become the council's main offices.[25][26]
The southern part of the borough is bounded on the east by the River Hamble (separating it from Fareham) and on the west by Southampton Water (separating it from the New Forest). The Hamble flows into Southampton Water at Hamble-le-Rice, thus accounting for the borough's southern boundary. Further north, the borough borders Southampton to the west and the City of Winchester district to the north. As well as Southampton Water and the River Hamble, a number of watercourses flow through Eastleigh, including the River Itchen, Monks Brook and the Itchen Navigation.
The largest settlement in the borough is the town of Eastleigh itself, with a continuous urban area which now includes Chandler's Ford, Bishopstoke and Boyatt Wood. The only other settlement in the borough with town status is Hedge End. Due to the urban nature of Southampton and the town of Eastleigh, the western side of the borough is generally more built up than the east. There are three country parks in the borough, Itchen Valley in West End and Lakeside, located just to the south of the town of Eastleigh, are managed by the borough council while Royal Victoria Country Park is managed by Hampshire County Council.
The borough is within the Hampshire Basin, with an underlying geology of mainly Cretaceous chalk.
Soil in the borough is principally of poor to moderate agricultural quality although high grade land is present in pockets. The south of the borough has acid soils and gravels, but poorly drained clays predominate in the north. Most of the borough is covered by a series of clays and marls, with sandy and lignitic beds, part of the Bracklesham Group of beds. As well as clay soils, the Bracklesham Beds result in some bands of sandy soil to the north of West End, and podzol soils around the M27 motorway west of Hedge End and on small areas of the gravels on top of the beds themselves. However most of the soil over the beds is more fertile brown earth.[27]
In the north of the borough, small pockets of valley gravels, London clay, Brickearth and Alluvium can be found, although these have mainly been built over with the exception of the Alluvium, which forms peaty soils around the floodplain of the River Itchen.[27]
Climate
As with the rest of the UK, Eastleigh experiences an oceanic climate (KöppenCfb). The nearest weather station to the Borough is in Southampton, which has held the record for the highest temperature in the UK for June at 35.6°C (96.1°F) since 1976.[28][29]
Climate data for Southampton (nearest weather station to the Borough of Eastleigh), elevation 3 m, 1981–2010
In the 2021 census, Eastleigh had a population of 136,443 people consisting of 66,700 males (48.9%) and 69,743 females (51.1%). The borough is much more densely populated than South East England and England as a whole, with a population density of 1,712.1 people per square km (South East England and England have population densities of 486.5 and 433.5 people per square km, respectively). 45.7% of Eastleigh's population state their religion as Christian, which is a significant decrease from 61.9% in 2011. 45.0% stated they had no religion (up from 28.5% in 2011) and 5.6% did not state a religion; the most popular non-Christian religions in the borough were Islam (1%), Hinduism (1%) and Sikhism (0.7%). The census also indicates that the residents of Eastleigh are generally in better health than those in England as a whole.
Economy
Hedge End Trade Park is part of a large retail development
Historically, the economy of the area has strong links with the transport industry. The proximity of substantial waterways made shipbuilding a major industry in the south of the borough, and today the pleasure boat industry still dominates the area around Hamble-le-Rice and Bursledon, made famous by the television drama series on the subject, Howards' Way, which was filmed in the area. The borough is also strongly linked with the Spitfire, the first test flights of which took place from Southampton Airport in Eastleigh. Eastleigh was once the heart of the London and South Western Railway, with the Eastleigh Works building most of the company's engines. At present, the works maintains South Western Railway and CrossCountry trains. The works building is now home to Arlington Fleet Services, which provides a multitude of train maintenance services. Finally, Network Rail has a yard here, from which it carries out track maintenance.
The economy of the borough today is dominated by the retail sector, which accounts for around 33 per cent of the jobs in the borough, and this proportion is rising.[32] As well as the large Swan Centre, a shopping centre in the town of Eastleigh, there is a large out-of-town retail development near Hedge End which includes flagship stores for Marks & Spencer[33] and Sainsbury's[34] among others. Eastleigh also has proportionately more manufacturing and construction jobs than the nation, but the number of jobs in these sectors is declining in the borough.[32]
The B&Q head office is in the Portswood House in Eastleigh, Eastleigh borough.[35]
The M3 motorway runs through the north-west of the borough, providing a direct road route to London, and the midlands and north of England via the A34 road which joins the M3 just north of Winchester. The M27 motorway also runs through much of the borough, linking Eastleigh to the rest of the south coast.
Southampton Airport is located in the north west of the borough, just south of the town of Eastleigh itself. The airport is the 20th largest in the United Kingdom and flights operate from there to destinations throughout the British Isles (including the Channel Islands) and some destinations in western continental Europe.
Local bus services in Eastleigh are operated by Bluestar. Stagecoach South also operate some services. National coach operators such as National Express tend not to serve Eastleigh due to the close proximity of Southampton and Winchester to the borough. Megabus does serve Southampton Airport Parkway, on a limited timetable.
Stoke Lock on the Itchen Navigation near Bishopstoke now with sluices and fish pass.
Eastleigh was awarded the European Flag of Honour in 1983 to mark the twentieth anniversary of the Borough's twinning with Villeneuve-Saint-Georges. The flag, which is awarded to local authorities which promote pan-Europe relationships, was presented to the council by a European Commission representative on 18 June 1983.[40]
Eastleigh is a town in Hampshire, England, between Southampton and Winchester. It is the largest town and the administrative seat of the Borough of Eastleigh, with a population of 24,011 at the 2011 census.
Winchester, or the City of Winchester, is a local government district with city status in Hampshire, England.
Hamble-le-Rice, commonly known as Hamble, is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Eastleigh in Hampshire, England. It is best known for being a flying training centre during the Second World War and is a popular yachting location. The village and the River Hamble also featured in the 1980s BBC television series Howards' Way. The village centre, known as The Square, Hamble, has a more traditional English village aesthetic which differentiates it from the small industrial areas close to the village.
Hedge End is a town and civil parish in Hampshire, England. Situated to the east of the City of Southampton, it adjoins the districts of West End and Botley. Hedge End lies within the Borough of Eastleigh and is part of the Southampton Urban Area. The original hamlet developed on Botley Common after 1250 when it was granted to the men of Botley as common pasture. In 1267, royal charters allowed Botley to hold an annual fair and a weekly market on the common which eventually became a market town.
South Hampshire is a term used mainly to refer to the conurbation formed by the city of Portsmouth, city of Southampton and the non-metropolitan boroughs of Gosport, Fareham, Havant and Eastleigh in southern Hampshire, South East England. The area was estimated to have a population of over 1.5 million in 2013. It is the most populated part of South East England excluding London. The area is sometimes referred to as Solent City particularly in relation to local devolution, but the term is controversial.
The Itchen Way is a 31.80-mile (51.18 km) long-distance footpath following the River Itchen in Hampshire, England, from its source near Hinton Ampner House to its mouth at Woolston. The walk finishes at Sholing railway station. The route has been promoted by the Eastleigh Group of the Ramblers with grant aid from Hampshire County Council and Eastleigh Borough Council. The route was altered and improved in 2008.
Bursledon is a village on the River Hamble in Hampshire, England. It is located within the borough of Eastleigh. Close to the city of Southampton, Bursledon has a railway station, a marina, dockyards and the Bursledon Windmill. Nearby villages include Swanwick, Hamble-le-Rice, Netley and Sarisbury Green.
Netley, officially Netley Abbey, is a village on the south coast of Hampshire, England. It is situated to the south-east of the city of Southampton, and flanked on one side by the ruins of Netley Abbey and on the other by the Royal Victoria Country Park.
Eastleigh is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 by Liz Jarvis, a Liberal Democrat.
Fair Oak is a large village to the east of the town of Eastleigh in Hampshire, England. Together with the village of Horton Heath, which lies to the south, it is part of the civil parish of Fair Oak and Horton Heath.
Bishopstoke is a village and civil parish in the Eastleigh district of Hampshire, England. It is recorded as "Stoke" as early as 948AD when King Eadred granted land there to a thegn called Aelfric. Stoke later came into the possession of the Bishops of Winchester, giving rise to the modern name. The village is about a mile east of Eastleigh town centre, and is on the eastern bank of the River Itchen. It adjoins Fair Oak on the east.
Sholing, previously Scholing, is a suburb on the eastern side of the city of Southampton, in the ceremonial county of Hampshire, England. It is located between the districts of Bitterne, Thornhill and Woolston.
The Southampton–Fareham line is a railway line in England, along the south coast of Hampshire. As a through line it came late in British Railway history, traversing unpromising coastal terrain. The first part from Portswood, near Southampton, to Netley was opened in 1866, prompted by the establishment of the Royal Victoria Hospital at Netley, which had been established for the care of wounded soldiers.
The 2017 Hampshire County Council election took place on 4 May 2017 as part of the 2017 local elections in the United Kingdom. All councillors were elected from electoral divisions by first-past-the-post voting for a four-year term of office. The electoral divisions were somewhat changed from the previous election, with some being split, merged or with boundary changes. No elections were held in Portsmouth and Southampton, which are unitary authorities and hold their elections in other years. Similarly the districts within Hampshire did also not hold elections this year.
Hamble Valley is a parliamentary constituency of the House of Commons in the UK Parliament. Further to the completion of the 2023 periodic review of Westminster constituencies, it was first contested in the 2024 general election. It is represented by Paul Holmes of the Conservative Party, who served as the MP for Eastleigh from 2019 to 2024.
↑ "Company InformationArchived 10 February 2011 at the Wayback Machine ." B&Q. Retrieved on 2 February 2011. "B&Q Plc Portswood House 1 Hampshire Corporate Park Chandlers Ford Eastleigh Hampshire SO53 3YX "
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