East Dorset

East Dorset District
—  Non-metropolitan district  —
East Dorset shown within Dorset
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Constituent country	England
Region	South West England
Non-metropolitan county	Dorset
Status	Non-metropolitan district
Admin HQ	Furzehill, Wimborne
Incorporated	1 April 1974
Government
• Type	Non-metropolitan district council
• Body	East Dorset District Council
• Leadership	Alternative - Sec.31 (Conservative)
• MPs	Christopher Chope Robert Walter
Area
• Total	136.8 sq mi (354.4 km2)
Area rank	119th (of 326)
Population (2010 est.)
• Total	87,800
• Rank	264th (of 326)
• Density	641.7/sq mi (247.7/km2)
• Ethnicity	99.0% White
Time zone	GMT (UTC0)
• Summer (DST)	BST (UTC+1)
ONS code	19UD
OS grid reference	SU0130301959
Website	www.dorsetforyou.com

East Dorset is a local government district in Dorset, England. Its council is based in Furzehill, near Wimborne Minster.

The district was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of Wimborne Minster Urban District with part of the Ringwood and Fordingbridge Rural District and the Wimborne and Cranborne Rural District. The district was originally known as Wimborne, and adopted its present name in 1988.

The popularity of the area, being close to the New Forest, Bournemouth and the Dorset coast, has seen a rapid expansion in housing from the 1970s with the Verwood, Ferndown, West Moors and Corfe Mullen populations more than quadrupling. There still remains a rural feel, however, especially in the north and west of the area. Wimborne Minster has managed to retain its identity as a historic market town.

East Dorset also contains a large amount of the remaining lowland heath, managed by East Dorset Countryside Management Services in partnership with the Forestry Commission. The expansion of housing has led to a massive decrease in the area of this unusual and unique habitat, which once covered 500 km² but now covers only 15% of that.

Statistics released^[1] by the Office for National Statistics show that life expectancy at birth for males in East Dorset was 80.1 years in 2001-2003, the highest in the United Kingdom. Female life expectancy at birth for the same period was 83.4 years, ranking seventh in the UK. The figures for East Dorset during 1991-1993 were 77.9 years for males and 82.5 for females.

Settlements

Settlements with a population over 2,500 are in bold.

• Alderholt
• Chalbury, Colehill, Corfe Mullen, Cranborne
• Edmondsham
• Ferndown
• Gussage
• Hinton Martell, Hinton Parva, Holt, Horton
• Long Crichel
• Moor Crichel
• Pamphill, Pentridge
• St Ives, St Leonards, Shapwick, Sixpenny Handley, Sturminster Marshall
• Verwood
• West Moors, West Parley, Wimborne Minster, Wimborne St Giles, Witchampton, Woodlands

See also

• List of civil parishes in East Dorset

References

v d e Districts of South West England Devon East Devon Exeter Mid Devon North Devon South Hams Teignbridge Torridge West Devon Dorset Christchurch East Dorset North Dorset Purbeck West Dorset Weymouth and Portland Gloucestershire Cheltenham Cotswold Forest of Dean Gloucester Stroud Tewkesbury Somerset Mendip Sedgemoor South Somerset Taunton Deane West Somerset Unitary authorities Bath and North East Somerset Bournemouth Bristol Cornwall Isles of Scilly North Somerset Plymouth Poole South Gloucestershire Swindon Torbay Wiltshire

Coordinates: 50°48′59.84″N 1°58′53.36″W / 50.8166222°N 1.9814889°W / 50.8166222; -1.9814889