History
Whiteley contains a residential community, retail and a business park. Construction of the Solent business park started in the mid 1980s and the first houses were completed in the late 1980s, although construction slowed for a few years following a crash in the British residential property market during the mid 1990s. From 1996 construction recommenced and continues today.
Historically, the site now occupied by Whiteley was farmland and coppice. The nearest historical settlements are those of Park Gate situated just south of Swanwick Hill, Little Park to the South and Swanwick to the West. Farms in the local area included Rookery, Yew Tree, Sweethills and Whiteley. The wooded areas in Whiteley were used to provide shelter to troops in the build-up of forces for transportation to northern France in preparation for D-Day during the second world war. This is evidenced by the remains of a War Department water tank on the edge of the Bere Forest to the north of the community.
Part of the M27 motorway constructed to the south of the development was opened in February 1978.
The part of the development which falls in the Winchester district became a civil parish in 2003.
One of the earliest buildings in Whiteley was the Solent Hotel and Spa which was constructed in the early 1990s.
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