South East England

From Exampleproblems

South East
Image:EnglandSouthEast.png
Admin HQ	Guildford
Area - Total	3rd in England 19,096 km²
Population - Total (2001) - Density	1st in England 8,000,550 419/km²
NUTS 1:	UKJ

South East England is one of the nine official regions of England. The current boundaries include Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, Surrey and West Sussex. In common usage the area may widely vary.

The highest point of the region is Walbury Hill in Berkshire at 297m/974 ft.

1 Local government
- 1.1 Counties
- 1.2 Unitary Authority Areas
2 Historical boundaries
3 Common usage
4 Local dialects
5 External links

Local government

The region is divided into the following local government areas:

Counties

Main article: Counties of England

Unitary Authority Areas

Main article: Unitary authorities in England

Bracknell Forest (part of Berkshire)
Brighton and Hove (formerly part of East Sussex)
Medway (formerly part of Kent)
Borough of Milton Keynes (formerly part of Buckinghamshire)
Portsmouth (formerly part of Hampshire)
Reading (part of Berkshire)
Slough (part of Berkshire)
Southampton (formerly part of Hampshire)
West Berkshire (part of Berkshire)
Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead (part of Berkshire)
Wokingham (part of Berkshire)

Historical boundaries

Until the late 1990s the counties of Essex, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Greater London were also included for official purposes — excluding London left an area called "ROSE" (rest of South East).

Common usage

In unofficial usage the South East can refer to a varying area - sometimes only to Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, and Surrey or very approximately to the London commuter belt or the "Home Counties".

Local dialects

Traditionally the middle class inhabitants of the South East have spoken received pronunciation (also known as "RP", BBC English and Queen's English). Nowadays a form of the English language influenced by working class London accents and known as Estuary English is more prevalent in the region, even among the higher social classes. The name derives from the estuary of the River Thames which runs through East London and past Essex and Kent, which is the area where this accent is said to have originated.