Test Valley
Borough andnon-metropolitan district
Andover Town Centre
Test Valley shown within Hampshire
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Constituent country	England
Region	South East England
Non-metropolitan county	Hampshire
Status	Non-metropolitan district
Admin HQ	Andover
Incorporated	1 April 1974
Government
• Type	Non-metropolitan district council
• Body	Test Valley Borough Council
• MPs	Kit Malthouse Caroline Nokes
Area
• Total	242.3 sq mi (627.6 km2)
• Rank	57th(of 296)
Population  (2024)
• Total	135,201
• Rank	182nd(of 296)
• Density	557.9/sq mi (215.4/km2)
Ethnicity(2021) [1]
• Ethnic groups	List 93.1%White 3.3%Asian 1.8%Mixed 1.1%Black 0.8%other
Religion(2021) [1]
• Religion	List 50.5%Christianity 40.6%no religion 5.7% not stated 0.9%Islam 0.8%Hinduism 0.5%Buddhism 0.5%other 0.4%Sikhism 0.1%Judaism
Time zone	UTC0 (GMT)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+1 (BST)
ONS code	24UN (ONS) E07000093 (GSS)
OS grid reference	SU3560537973

Test Valley is alocal government district withborough status inHampshire, England, named after the valley of theRiver Test. The council is based in the borough's largest town ofAndover. The borough also contains the town ofRomsey and numerous villages and surrounding rural areas. A small part of the borough at its southern end lies within theNew Forest National Park, and part of the borough north of Andover lies within theNorth Wessex Downs, a designatedArea of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

The neighbouring districts areBasingstoke and Deane,Winchester, andEastleigh to the east,Southampton andNew Forest to the south,Wiltshire to the west andWest Berkshire to the north.

The district was created on 1 April 1974 under theLocal Government Act 1972, covering the area of four former districts which were all abolished at the same time:^[2]

• AndoverMunicipal Borough
• Andover Rural District
• Romsey Municipal Borough
• Romsey and Stockbridge Rural District

The new district was named Test Valley after the River Test which flows through the area.^[3] The district was awarded borough status on 22 October 1976, allowing the chair of the council to take the title of mayor.^[4]

Test Valley Borough Council
Type
Type	Non-metropolitan district
Leadership
Mayor	Gordon Bailey, Conservative since 14 May 2025[5]
Leader	Phil North, Conservative since 10 May 2017
Chief Executive	Andy Ferrier since 15 June 2020[6]
Structure
Seats	43 councillors
Political groups	Administration (26)  Conservative (26) Opposition (17)  Liberal Democrat (17)
Length of term	4 years
Elections
Last election	4 May 2023
Next election	6 May 2027
Meeting place
Beech Hurst, Weyhill Road, Andover, SP10 3AJ
Website
www.testvalley.gov.uk

Test Valley Borough Council providesdistrict-level services.County-level services are provided byHampshire County Council. The whole district is also covered bycivil parishes, which form a third tier of local government.^[7]

In the part of the borough within the New Forest National Park,town planning is the responsibility of theNew Forest National Park Authority. The borough council appoints one of its councillors to serve on the 22-person National Park Authority.^[8]

The council has been underConservative majority control since 1999.

The first election to the council was held in 1973, initially acting as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities until the new arrangements took effect on 1 April 1974. Political control since 1974 has been as follows:^[9]

The role of mayor is largely ceremonial in Test Valley. Political leadership is instead provided by theleader of the council. The leaders since 1980 have been:^[10]

Following the2023 election, the composition of the council was:^[17]

The next election is due in 2027.^[18]

Since the last boundary changes in 2019 the council has comprised 43councillors representing 20wards, with each ward electing one, two or three councillors. Elections are held every four years.^[19]

The council has its main offices at Beech Hurst in Andover. The site had previously been a large house built in the 1850s, which had been purchased in 1947 by the old Andover Borough Council to use as its headquarters. The house continued to serve as offices for Test Valley after the new council's creation in 1974 until 1990 when it was demolished and replaced by a modern building on the same site, retaining the Beech Hurst name.^[20] The council also maintains a smaller office at the former Magistrates' Court on Church Street in Romsey.^[21] Full council meetings are held alternately atAndover Guildhall and at Crosfield Hall in Romsey.^[22]

Test Valley covers some 250 square miles (650 km²) of westernHampshire, stretching from boundaries withSouthampton in the south to nearNewbury in the north. Test Valley is a predominantly rural area. It includes part of theNorth Wessex DownsArea of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

The River Test is the centrepiece of the Test Valley; the river is a chalk stream of particular beauty known for itsfishing,salmon andtrout, whichLord Crickhowell (onetime chairman of theNational Rivers Authority) said "should be treated as a great work of art or music". Stockbridge is home of the Houghton Fishing Club, an exclusive fishing club founded in 1822, which meets in the Grosvenor Hotel.

In December 2006,Sport England published a survey which revealed that residents of Test Valley were the 8th most active in England in sports and other fitness activities. 26.9% of the population participate at least 3 times a week for 30 minutes.^[23]

In March 2012 Test Valley was ranked 14th best rural area to live out of 119 local authority areas in Great Britain by theHalifax. This was based on factors including employment and income levels, the weather, health and life expectancy, education, crime, broadband access and other things.^[24][25]

The whole borough is covered bycivil parishes. The parish councils for Andover and Romsey have declared their parishes to be towns, allowing them to take the style "town council". Whilst Stockbridge is apost town it has a parish council rather than a town council. Some of the smaller parishes have aparish meeting rather than a parish council. The parishes of Frenchmoor and West Tytherley share a grouped parish council.^[26]

There are three rail lines in service in Test Valley; these being theWest of England line,Wessex Main Line andEastleigh–Romsey line. On the West of England line areAndover railway station andGrateley railway station. From Andover there are half-hourly trains toLondon Waterloo viaBasingstoke, plus half-hourly trains toSalisbury, with some continuing to destinations such asExeter St Davids andYeovil Junction. Grateley operates hourly trains in both directions. Both of these stations are only served bySWR. On the Wessex Main line areRomsey railway station andMottisfont & Dunbridge railway station, plusDean railway station which is located just across the Wiltshire border inWest Dean. All three stations are operated by SWR, Romsey is also served byGWR. Mottisfont & Dunbridge and Dean are served by trains towards Salisbury, and trains towards Romsey, where they loop either towardsChandler's Ford first (on the Eastleigh-Romsey line) orRedbridge, going on to call at bothSouthampton Central andEastleigh, eventually looping back to Romsey, either terminating there or continuing to Salisbury. Romsey also has GWR services towardsPortsmouth Harbour via Southampton andFareham. And GWR towardsCardiff Central via Salisbury,Bath Spa,Bristol Temple Meads andNewport.

A number of bus operators operate in Test Valley.Stagecoach South^[29] has a depot in Andover, and operates most of the routes in north Test valley and Andover.Salisbury Reds^[30][31] andBluestar^[32] (includingUnilink^[33]), bothGo-Ahead Group companies, operate most of the routes in south Test valley and Romsey.

* Specific journeys start in Shootash, and stop at Sherfield English; Plaitford; Wellow and rejoins in Romsey, but doesn't serve Romsey bus station

The area is served byBBC South andITV Meridian with television signals received from eitherRowridge orHannington TV transmitters.^[64][65]

Radio stations for the area are:

• BBC Radio Berkshire
• BBC Radio Solent
• Heart South
• Greatest Hits Radio Berkshire & North Hampshire
• Andover Radio (servingAndover)

• Test Valley Borough website

51°08′22″N1°29′28″W / 51.1394°N 1.491°W /51.1394; -1.491

Wikimedia Commons has media related toTest Valley.

• Test Valley
• Andover, Hampshire
• Non-metropolitan districts of Hampshire
• Boroughs in England

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