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Section A—Natural and Social
Conditions of the District.
Area (in acres) 3,346
Number of inhabited houses (end of 1949)
according to Rate Books 16,638
Rateable Value at 31st December, 1949 £502,720
Sum represented by 1d. rate £2,046
THE Sanitary District, situated about midway between the Thames
and the North Downs, is roughly rectangular in shape. It is
approximately one mile in width and, commencing at a datum level
of 72 at the northern boundary, it extends for some five miles in a
southerly direction up the slope of the North Downs to a height of
450 feet above sea level.
The subsoil, which is clay in the northern part, changes to a sandy
gravel as one proceeds southwards, and then merges into chalk, which
covers the southern half of the district.
The River Wandle forms the eastern boundary in the northern
part and arises from several springs at the outcropping of the chalk
near the centre of the district. Reference has been made in recent
reports to the progressive decrease in the flow from these springs
resulting from depletion of the underground supplies of the London
Basin. Both ponds in the centre of the district, which have provided
a valuable amenity, were completely dried up for a considerable part
of the year except for the temporary accumulation of surface water
with its attendant risks from stagnation.
The greater part of the urban district is of comparatively recent
growth, providing a dormitory area for workers in the metropolis.
As a result, like other districts similarly developed in the outer ring,
it has a young population as will be seen from the Registrar-General's
statistics of the age structure of the population referred to later in this
report. With the exception of the southern portion, the district is
highly urbanised, the housing density increasing as one approaches the
northern boundary. Housing is mostly of the working class type and
the rateable value per head of population is among the lowest in the
county.
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