View report page

7
A memorandum of the Local Government Board, called
calls for detailed information under certain headings which are
dealt with seriatim.
Physical Features and General Character of the District.
The greater part of the District is on flat ground on the
south bank of the Thames, but little raised above the level of the
river. There is rising ground to the east of the Borough, extending
almost to the top of Kingston Hill, a height of 144 feet.
There is also high ground near the Cemetery, 59 feet. Nearly the
whole of the district is now built over; of the 1,114 acres in the
Borough there remain about 35 acres in the neighbourhood of
Latchmere Brook bordering on Ham, and about 15 acres near the
Dust Destructor, adjoining the Hogg's Mill stream. A few large
mansions with gardens remain to be cut up into building plots
sooner or later, but they are hardly large enough for a Town
Planning Scheme. The higher parts of the town are on clay, the
low-lying ground being mostly gravel.
In addition to the Thames, a small stream, the Hogg's Mill
River, enters the Thames near the Market Place. This stream
has a fall of about 25 feet in its passage through the Borough, and
if it were not for three mill dams it would drain the district
through which it passes very effectively. The banking up of the
water keeps this neighbourhood rather damp, as the stream is
very sluggish, but great improvements have been made in cleaning
out the stream and camp shedding or otherwise improving the
bank. Parts have been filled in and the condition of the adjoining
houses improved. The effluents from the Sewage Works of
Maiden, Ewell and Epsom all discharge into the stream beyond
the Borough boundary. The average summer flow is not above
10 or 12 million gallons daily, but this will increase as the effluent
from the sewage works of these growing districts increases. It is
under the control of the Thames Conservancy as regards pollution,
but regulations are badly needed in regard to the repair of banks,
flooding, etc. This stream for the greater part is outside the
Borough, but any damage caused by accident or neglect higher up
is felt almost entirely within our boundaries.