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STATISTICS AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS
OF THE AREA
Area (in acres) 3,765
Registrar-General's Estimate of Resident Civilian
Population, 1954 72,290
Number of Inhabited Houses (end of 1954) according
to Rate Books 21,810
Rateable Value (1954) £945,374
Sum represented by a penny rate (1954) £3,855
I can add little to the remarks which I have set out under this
heading over the past few years. One of the highest compliments
that could be paid to Southgate is the statement that, in a world
which seems to see little betterment, where moral and material
values are continually declining sometimes to a frightening extent,
where the struggle is very often not to improve but to hold one's
ground, the Borough remains almost an oasis in which it is still
truly pleasant to live and work.
Need it be said that the struggle will almost certainly grow
fiercer? The need to preserve, to build carefully on existing
foundations, to sweep away, to re-arrange and to re-erect, becomes
more acute, more difficult as a district ages. Nothing can be left
to chance; a facile policy of laissez-faire would have a rapid and
most unfortunate effect. We have, however, the results of past
planning constantly before our eyes in Southgate. If this lead is
followed, and surely it must be followed, the health of Southgate
should be assured for many years to come.
Further to this, there are two matters upon which I should like
to comment. The first has to do with what one might describe as
the outward appearance of the Borough. There is not the slightest
doubt that the appearance of any district has an effect, sometimes a
profound effect, on those who live and work within its confines.
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