dshire||UKJ1||Berkshire||UKJ11|
|Surrey, East and West Sussex||UKJ2||Brighton and Hove||UKJ21|
|East Sussex CC||UKJ22|
|West Sussex CC||UKJ24|
|Hampshire and Isle of Wight||UKJ3||Portsmouth||UKJ31|
|Isle of Wight||UKJ34|
The main road transport routes are along the M1 through Buckinghamshire; the M40 through Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire; the M4 through Berkshire and Buckinghamshire; the M2 motorway/A2 and M20 through Kent; the M23 through West Sussex; the M3 through Hampshire. All these routes connect to the M25, which runs near to and occasionally through the region's border with Greater London.
The A34 provides a north-south road link through Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Hampshire. The east-west corridor through the south of the region is provided by the A27 and the M27.
The main intercontinental airport is Gatwick Airport, with regional airports at Kent International Airport (Ramsgate), Shoreham Airport and Southampton Airport. Heathrow Airport is in Greater London but also serves (and is serviced by) the South East region.
The Great Western Main Line passes through Berkshire and southern Buckinghamshire. The South Eastern Main Line and High Speed 1 pass through Kent; the latter connects to the Channel Tunnel. The Brighton Main Line passes through Surrey and West Sussex. The North Downs Line runs from Berkshire then through Surrey to connect with Sussex and Kent. The West Coast Main Line passes through northern Buckinghamshire. The Chiltern Main Line is a major commuter line between Birmingham and London passing through central Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire. The Port of Dover and the port at Folkestone have many ferry services to France and though none currently run to Belgium.
As part of the transport planning system the Regional Assembly is under statutory requirement to produce a Regional Transport Strategy (RTS) to provide long term planning for transport in the region. This involves region wide transport schemes such as those carried out by the Highways Agency and Network Rail.
Within the region the local transport authorities carry out transport planning through the use of a Local Transport Plan (LTP) which outlines their strategies, policies and implementation programme. The most recent LTP is that for the period 2006-11. In the South East region the following transport authorities have published their LTP online: Bracknell Forest U.A., Brighton & Hove U.A., Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Kent, Medway U.A., Milton Keynes U.A., Oxfordshire, Portsmouth U.A., Reading U.A., Slough U.A., Southampton U.A., Surrey, Windsor and Maidenhead U.A., Wokingham U.A. and West Sussex.
At Eartham Pit, Boxgrove near Halnaker in West Sussex in December 1993, the oldest an Acheulean hand axe was also found. Bones of a Megalosaurus were found at a slate quarry at Stonesfield in Oxfordshire and named in 1824: it is now at Oxford University Museum of Natural History. In 1822 an Iguanodon was found (by Gideon Mantell) at Whitemans Green near Cuckfield, West Sussex.
The Meonhill Vineyard, near Old Winchester Hill in east Hampshire on the South Downs south of West Meon on the A32, was the site of where the Romano-British grew Roman grapes.
The Ridgeway runs through Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire and is probably Britain's oldest road. The post office at Shipton-under-Wychwood in Oxfordshire, in the Cotswolds, is the oldest still in use in England, purpose-built motor circuit built in 1907 by Sir Hugh F. Locke-King, the land owner.
World War II
Much of the Battle of Britain was fought in this region, especially in Kent. RAF Bomber Command was based at High Wycombe. RAF Medmenham at Danesfield House, west of Marlow in Buckinghamshire, was important for aerial reconnaissance. Operation Corona, based at RAF Kingsdown (at West Kingsdown next to Brands Hatch in Kent, between the A20 and M20), was implemented to confuse German night fighters with native German-speakers, and coordinated by the RAF Y Service.
Bletchley Park in north Buckinghamshire was the principal Allied centre for codebreaking. The Colossus computer