Elvetham Heath Nature Reserve - geograph

Elvetham Heath is a residential area and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

, containing around 2000 homesHart District Council
/ref> on a site, just outside the north western boundary of the

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

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 ...

in the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

county of

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

. Construction of Elvetham Heath began in the summer of 1999 and ended in June 2008. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 Census was 5,183.

Location

Elvetham Heath was built on reclaimed pine plantation/heathland between the M3 motorway and the

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

railway line, north of Fleet town centre. Formerly known as Railroad Heath, it previously belonged to the local Calthorpe Estate. Elvetham Heath serves as a commuter area to local towns; Basingstoke some to the west,

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...

is to the north and London is to the northeast. The development is located precisely midway between

and

. It is adjacent to the M3 motorway, from the M4, and from the M25.

Fleet railway station Fleet railway station serves the town of Fleet, Hampshire, Fleet in Hampshire, England. It is situated on the South West Main Line, which has four tracks through the station. There are two platforms on the outer pair of tracks, which are serve ...

is approximately from the centre of the development.

Nature reserve

The district has a Local Nature Reserve, Elvetham Heath LNR. It is managed by

Hart District Council 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 ...

, with the intent to move it back to typical heathland, with some marsh areas. The area supports species including

slowworm The slow worm (''Anguis fragilis'') is a reptile native to western Eurasia. It is also called a deaf adder, a slowworm, a blindworm, or regionally, a long-cripple and hazelworm. These legless lizards are also sometimes called common slowworms. T ...

s, lizards, and

dragonflies A dragonfly is a flying insect belonging to the infraorder Anisoptera below the order Odonata. About 3,000 extant species of true dragonfly are known. Most are tropical, with fewer species in temperate regions. Loss of wetland habitat threa ...

. Rare breed cattle graze in the nature reserve during the summer and autumn.

Proposal for Lidl supermarket and drive-through restaurant

On 19th December 2022, the landowner of the former park & ride, located opposite the De Havilland Arms, withdrew its application to build a Lidl foodstore and drive-through following a successful campaign by local residents.

References

External links

Official site of Elvetham Heath Parish CouncilElvetham Heath Primary School
Site for Elvetham Heath's primary school
heathforum.co.uk
Heath forum for residents and businesses of Elvetham Heath - smartphone and tablet friendly
Elvetham Heath ForumOn The Heath
Local community website and forum for Elvetham Heath
Residents Against Lidl on Elvetham
{{Coord, 51.295, -0.8428, type:landmark, display=title Civil parishes in Hampshire Local Nature Reserves in Hampshire