Poole

Poole is a big coastal town as  also  a seaport in Dorset. It is situated on the south coast of England. The town is nearly 33 kilometres (21 miles) east of Dorchester and connects Bournemouth in the east. The local council is Borough of Poole.In 1997 they turned into a unitary authority. This gave it  administrative independence from Dorset County Council. The Census in 2001 shows that the borough had a total population of 147,645. In Dorset, Poole was the second largest populated area. Together with Christchurch and Bournemouth, the town has a total population of over 465,000.

History

The name of town originates from Old English pool  meaning a place near a pool or creek. It has been given various name in different times such as Pool, Pole, and Poolman. The area around modern Poole has been occupied for the past 2,500 years. During the 3rd century BC, Celts  moved from the famous hilltop settlements  to heathland near the River Frome and Poole Harbour.

Parliamentary representation

Poole is represented by three constituencies of Parliament in the House of Commons. The Poole’s borough constituency has existed since 1950. Previous.ly the town had been a parliamentary borough, electing two members of parliament from the year 1455 until 1865. Later  representation was reduced to a single member. In 1885 the constituency was abolished  and absorbed into the East Dorset constituency until its reintroduce it in 1950. Robert Syms (Conservative) has been the MP since 1997. At the 2015 general election, the Conservatives won a majority of 15,789 and 50.1% of the total vote. The UK’s Independence Party won 16.8% of the total vote, the Liberal Democrats 11.8% and Labour 12.9%.

Demography

Poole merges with some other towns to form the South East Dorset conurbation. Together they have a  combined population of over 465,000. This makes it one of the South Coast's major urban areas.  In the 2011 census, the population of the Borough of Poole was 147,645, an increase from 138,288 in 2001. The town has an urbanised area of 65 sq. Km. (25 sq miles), giving a population density of 2,128 residents per square kilometre (5,532 per sq miles) in 60,512 dwellings.