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南漢普郡指在英格蘭東南部漢普郡南部、以樸茨茅斯市、南安普敦市為中心,及鄰近的非都市行政區組成的城市群。 於2013 年,該地區的人口估計超過 150 萬[1]。 它是英格蘭東南部除倫敦以外人口最多的地區。 該地區有時被稱為索倫特城,特別是與地方權力下放相關的地方 [2] ,但此名稱存在爭議。 [3] [4]
南漢普郡組合都市位於英格蘭東南部、漢普郡南部大部份地區,主要範圍自西向東包括南安普敦市、伊斯特利區、費勒姆區、戈斯波特區、樸茨茅斯市及哈文特區,並分別以南安普敦及樸茨茅斯為中心,然後延伸至泰斯特河谷(英語:Test Valley)區、東漢普郡(英語:East Hampshire)區、溫徹斯特市、新福里斯特(英語:New Forest (district))區,人口密度相對較低。西薩塞克斯郡的奇徹斯特區也常被納入城市群內。 兩大城市更是大倫敦地區以外,英格蘭人口最稠密的地區。[5]
Harold Wilson's Labour government commissioned town planner Colin Buchanan in 1965 to study the region. He found a region of growing economic importance, in desperate need of proper planning to avoid unplanned sprawl, and suggested the construction of a modernist urban area between Southampton and Portsmouth.[6] However this was resisted by local authorities who occupied the proposed development sites, and Buchanan's plans were never put into effect.[1]
Instead, as a result of high-tech industry and services, the area was able to grow largely without overall planning to become perhaps the most densely populated region of the UK.[1] In the late 20th century mass manufacturing of ordinary commodities declined, leaving several town and city neighbourhoods impoverished and suffering unemployment; however by the early 21st century high income and retirement properties came to dominate some neighbourhoods, particularly close to universities, and many suburbs and exurbs. Centrally planned building programmes included large estates, connected by new road networks, for commercial and residential use by Hampshire County Council's architects, led by Colin Stansfield Smith. Otherwise development has tended to be on a case-by-case basis for retail parks, business parks and housing.[1]
The Solent Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) is a collaboration between local authorities, universities and businesses set up in 2011 by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.[7][8] Different departments of the Solent LEP are distributed across the area, with its 'Growth Hub' being based in Southampton.[9] On 12 November 2013 the government announced the second wave of City Deals, with a successful joint bid of Southampton and Portsmouth providing £953 million of investment into the Solent LEP.[10]
Various attempts at a South Hampshire or Solent City devolution deal have been made, but saw minor local resistance, stemming from the Southampton-Portsmouth rivalry, as well as from the more rural Isle of Wight.[11][12] Whilst the proposal did otherwise see continued support, particularly from councillors,[13] by 2018 talks with the government had stalled.[11][14] More recent proposals have included southeast Dorset, that is Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP). After another bid was submitted in 2021, Gerald Vernon-Jackson claimed the government were "keen" on including BCP in a potential deal.[15] A November 2022 report by BCP Council suggested a Central South deal as an alternative to a Pan-Hampshire deal with BCP tacked on.[16]
He said: I do not want to live in "Solent City". I'd rather live in Fareham. I think we should keep the strategic gap.
The term Solent City is nowhere to be found in the South Hampshire Study and instead emerged as shorthand for the sheer horror felt by inhabitants and their political representatives over the emergence of a single functional urban region