Hart is a

local government district The districts of England (also known as local authority districts or local government districts to distinguish from unofficial city districts) are a level of subnational division of England used for the purposes of local government. As the st ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, named after the

River Hart A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wat ...

. Its council is based in

Fleet Fleet may refer to: Vehicles *Fishing fleet *Naval fleet *Fleet vehicles, a pool of motor vehicles *Fleet Aircraft, the aircraft manufacturing company Places Canada * Fleet, Alberta, Canada, a hamlet England * The Fleet Lagoon, at Chesil Beach ...

. It was formed on 1 April 1974 under the

Local Government Act 1972 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant Acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...

, as a merger of the

urban district Urban district may refer to: * District * Urban area * Quarter (urban subdivision) * Neighbourhood Specific subdivisions in some countries: * Urban districts of Denmark * Urban districts of Germany * Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland) (hist ...

of Fleet, and the

Hartley Wintney Rural District Hart is a local government district in Hampshire, England, named after the River Hart. Its council is based in Fleet. It was formed on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, as a merger of the urban district of Fleet, and the Har ...

. It was named the best place to live in the UK in the 2017 Halifax quality of life study. Hart District is one of the richest and least deprived areas in the whole of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. In the Indices of Deprivation 2015, Hart was ranked at 326 out of 326 local authorities in England, where 1 was the most deprived area and 326 the least deprived, meaning Hart is the least deprived area in

. For five years running (2011-2015), an annual study conducted by the

Halifax bank Halifax (previously known as Halifax Building Society and colloquially known as The Halifax) is a British banking brand operating as a trading division of Bank of Scotland, itself a wholly owned subsidiary of Lloyds Banking Group. It is named ...

named Hart as the UK's most desirable place to live for quality of life. The study took into account jobs, housing, health, crime, weather, traffic and broadband access. It found that in 2014 97% of people in the local authority area were in good health, and in 2011 tended to have incomes 40% above the national average.

Population

In mid-2003 Hart had an estimated 85,700 residents. This compares with the 2001 Census figure of 83,505 residents. The 2001 Census also reported that there were 32,470 households, with 77% of residents describing their health as 'good'. In the twenty years between 1982 and 2002 the population of Hart grew by 19 per cent, compared with an increase of 11 per cent for the South East region as a whole.

Politics

Elections to the council are held in three out of every four years, with one third of the 35 seats on the council being elected at each election. From the 2000 election to 2005 the

Conservative party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

had a majority on the council. Until 2010 it was under no overall control. Between 2010 and 2012 the Conservatives again had control of the council, losing power again in the 2012 elections. Following the 2019 election, the make-up of the Council is as follows:

Parishes and town councils

* Blackwater and Hawley *

Bramshill Bramshill is a civil parish in the English county of Hampshire. Its name has become synonymous with the Police Staff College, Bramshill located in Bramshill House. Bramshill forms part of the district of Hart. It is bordered by the Rivers Whit ...

Church Crookham Church Crookham is a large suburban village and civil parish, contiguous with the town of Fleet, in northeast Hampshire, England. It is west-southwest of London. Formerly a separate village, it figures as a southern suburb of Fleet. History ...

Crondall Crondall () is a village and large civil parish in the north east of Hampshire in England, in the Crondall Hundred (division), Hundred surveyed in the Domesday Book of 1086. The village is on the gentle slopes of the low western end of the North ...

Crookham Village Crookham Village is located south-west of Fleet, in northeast Hampshire, England and lies within the Hart District. History Crookham (formerly Crokeham) dates back at least as far as the Domesday Book, although Crookham Village and Church Cro ...

Dogmersfield Dogmersfield is a small village lying between the towns of Fleet and Hartley Wintney in Hampshire, England. The M3 motorway and railway stations at Fleet and Winchfield provide routes to London. Places of interest include the village church, whic ...

* Elvetham Heath *

Eversley Eversley is a village and civil parish in the Hart district of Hampshire, England. The village is located around northeast of Basingstoke and around west of Yateley. The River Blackwater, and the border with Berkshire, form the northern bo ...

Ewshot Ewshot is a village and civil parish in Hampshire, England. It lies in the north east of the county, close to the Surrey border. The name Ewshot comes from Old English and means ''corner or angle of land where yew trees grow''. Ewshot consists ...

* Fleet Town *

Greywell Greywell is a small village and civil parish in Hampshire, England – a past winner of the Best Kept Village in Hampshire competition and a recent winner of Best Small Village in Hampshire. It lies on the west bank of the River Whitewater, 6 mil ...

Hartley Wintney Hartley Wintney is a large village and civil parish in the Hart (district), Hart district of Hampshire, England. It lies about northwest of Fleet, Hampshire, Fleet and east of Basingstoke. The parish includes the smaller contiguous village of ...

Heckfield Heckfield is a village in Hampshire, England. It lies between Reading, Berkshire, Reading and Hook, Hart, Hook. It is the location of Highfield Park, Heckfield, Highfield Park, where Neville Chamberlain died in 1940, and it is adjacent to Strat ...

Hook A hook is a tool consisting of a length of material, typically metal, that contains a portion that is curved or indented, such that it can be used to grab onto, connect, or otherwise attach itself onto another object. In a number of uses, one e ...

* Long Sutton *

Mattingley Mattingley is a village and large civil parish in Hampshire, England. The village lies on the Reading road between the town of Hook and Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by ...

Odiham Odiham () is a large historic village and civil parish in the Hart district of Hampshire, England. It is twinned with Sourdeval in the Manche Department of France. The 2011 population was 4,406. The parish in 1851 had an area of 7,354 acres wi ...

Rotherwick Rotherwick is a village and civil parish in the Hart district of Hampshire, England. Extent and layout It is briefly limited to the east and the west by the Whitewater and the Lyde, both tributaries of the Loddon. A curved lane, becoming Read ...

South Warnborough South Warnborough () is a small village and civil parish in the English county of Hampshire. In the 2001 census, the population was 407. In the 2016 census, the population was estimated to be 509. South Warnborough is approximately south of ...

Winchfield Winchfield is a small village in the Hart District of Hampshire in the South-East of England. It is situated south-west of Hartley Wintney, east of Basingstoke, north-east of Odiham and west of London. It is connected to London Waterloo a ...

Yateley Yateley () is a town and civil parish in the English county of Hampshire. It lies in the north-eastern corner of Hart District Council area. It includes the settlements of Frogmore and Darby Green to the east. It had a population of 21,011 at t ...

Etymology and council logo

Hart Hart often refers to: * Hart (deer) Hart may also refer to: Organizations * Hart Racing Engines, a former Formula One engine manufacturer * Hart Skis, US ski manufacturer * Hart Stores, a Canadian chain of department stores * Hart's Reptile Wo ...

is the older word for a deer; the district had much more woodland than its current panoply of small woodlands and larger instance, Elvetham Heath/Forest (and later many well-stocked

medieval deer park In medieval and Early Modern England, Wales and Ireland, a deer park () was an enclosed area containing deer. It was bounded by a ditch and bank with a wooden park pale on top of the bank, or by a stone or brick wall. The ditch was on the ins ...

s) which reflected the local abundance of this type of prime game (manorial lords' favoured animal for hunting). The logo is a green outline of an antlered deer's head, in side profile.

References

External links

Hart District CouncilStatistics on Hart District Council from the UK Government
{{coord, 51.2794, -0.8461, type:adm3rd_dim:25000_region:GB-HAM, display=title Non-metropolitan districts of Hampshire