London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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Coulsdon and Purley 1949

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Coulsdon]

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HEALTH REPORT FOR 1949.
The Urban District of Coulsdon and Purley was constituted by an
Order of the Local Government Board dated 1st November, 1914, and
came into existence on the 7th April, 1915. It has therefore been a
separate District for just over 34 years.
Situated on the North Downs immediately to the south of Croydon,
it is a well-favoured "dormitory" suburb, with a very considerable
part of its area as yet undeveloped and forming part of the "Green
Belt." Thanks to successful Town Planning Schemes in the past there
is comparatively little dense development, most of the houses being well
spaced, while it is hoped that as an outcome of the Town and Country
Planning Act, 1947, it will continue to possess very extensive open spaces.
The majority of the residents who work, do so in London or Croydon,
travelling to and fro daily. Locally there are no really large manufacturing
or other industries, most of the residents employed in the
District being connected with building and decorating, with the provision
of food and the other wants of the inhabitants, or attached to the mental
hospitals. The amount of unemployment, apart from temporary unemployment
pending transfer, is negligible.
AREA AND POPULATION.
The District has an area of 11,142 acres, these being distributed
among the wards as follows:—
Coulsdon East 2,812
Coulsdon West 1,253
Kenley 1,292
Purley 685
Sanderstead 2,311
Selsdon and Farleigh 1,924
Woodcote 865
This is 2,507 acres more than in 1915, owing to revisions of the
boundaries, the last of which was in 1933.
In mid-1949 the Registrar-General estimated that 64,030 persons
were residing in the District, and 64,080 at the end of the year, compared
with 62,980 in December, 1948.
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