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SOCIAL CONDITIONS
The London Borough of Enfield covers an area of 20,061 acres and has an
estimated population of 265,600 and a rateable value of £18,526,145.
Development is well balanced with a wide variety of environmental conditions,
ranging from open country, through residential property of all kinds, commercial
premises and shopping centres, to industrial areas.
The proposals included in the Lee Valley Park Plan to improve facilities for
leisure pursuits in the borough are already under way, and the development of the
Picketts Lock Centre, Edmonton, started in March 1969 with the construction of an
18-hole golf course. The Centre and the all-weather floodlit playing areas are due
to be completed in 1972. The Centre includes a large multi-purpose leisure building
providing space for a great variety of indoor sports and social amenities. The potential
activities are many, varying from roller skating to indoor bowls, from recreational
bathing to indoor tennis, from archery to concerts, exhibition, social and spectator
gatherings. There will be squash courts, rooms for judo and weight training, a rifle
range, sauna bath, children's creche, discotheque and club rooms. The large concourse
will be a place at which to meet, eat, drink and see what is happening.
The transport network serving the borough comprises an underground, three
suburban and two main railway lines and numerous bus routes.
Two trunk roads cross the borough, one from east to west and the other from
north to south. The opening of the further stretch of dual carriageway to the northern
boundaries on the latter road has brought about a considerable improvement in the
traffic flow through Enfield. One first-class road runs north to south and important
metropolitan roads run east to west. An experimental traffic management scheme
was introduced in Enfield Town at the end of August, 1969, and has to date effected
a considerable improvement in easing the traffic congestion in the Town Centre.
The borough is well provided with educational, cultural and recreational
facilities.
The main public building is the Civic Centre, Silver Street, Enfield, which
contains the Mayor's Suite, the Council Chamber, committee rooms and the department
of the Town Clerk. The other departments of the Council are housed separately
in premises throughout the borough.
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