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foundations being seriously interfered with. There is also an
interference with the foundations owing to the sliding movement
which takes place on a big slope.
Back-to-Back Houses.
There are very few houses of this class in the district and
practically no houses built in courts.
Open Spaces.
The Borough has several parks in the neighbourhood but requires
more small open spaces in the congested area. Every opportunity
should be taken of acquiring small plots of land for the purpose of
providing playgrounds and small gardens. Such provision would
enable streets to be opened up which at present do not make for the
health of the people.
The permanent open spaces existing, which cannot be built upon,
are:—
Situation. Size Maintained by
1. Deptford Park Evelyn Street 22 acres L.C.C.
2. Ravensbourne
Recreation Ground Brookmill Road 1¼ acres Borough
Council.
3. Hilly Fields Brockley 45½ acres L.C.C.
On S.E. boundary of the Borough)
4. Telegraph Hill
Recreation Ground Telegraph Hill 9¾ acres
5. Railways and adjoining
land 234 acres
6. Mill wall Football
Ground 5½ acres
7. Canals 8 acres
8. Reservoir 1 acre Met. Water
Board.
Density.
In the Census of 1921 the density, or number of persons per acre,
numbered 60 for the County of London, the worst Boroughs being
Southwark, 163; Shoreditch, 158; Bethnal Green, 154; whilst in the
South-east the density of Deptford was 72. While the acreage density
affects certain medical and social questions such as the control of
infectous disease, provision of transport and distribution of food
supplies, it does not necessarily supply any index to overcrowding
from the housing point of view. This latter depends entirely upon the
sufficiency or otherwise of housing accommodation, especially as
demonstrated by the average rooms for London. While overcrowding
can and does occur in areas with a dense population, it is possible to