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Section A—Natural and Social
Conditions of the District.
Area (in acres) 3,346
Number of inhabited houses (end of 1950)
according to Rate Books 16,650
Rateable Value at 31st December, 1950 ,£504,589
Sum represented by 1d. rate ^2,072
THE Sanitary District, situated about midway between the Thames
and the North Downs, is roughly rectangular in shape. It is
approximately one mile in width and, commencing at a datum
level of 72 at the northern boundary, it extends for some five miles
in a southerly direction up the slope of the North Downs to a height
of 450 feet above sea level.
The subsoil, which is clay in the northern part, changes to a
sandy gravel as one proceeds southwards, and then merges into chalk,
which covers the southern half of the district.
The River Wandle forms the eastern boundary in the northern
part and arises from several springs at the outcropping of the chalk
near the centre of the district. During the summer, consideration
was given to the prejudice to amenity and health which results from
the failure of these springs with consequent stagnation and drying
up of the ornamental ponds which are a feature of the district. The
exceptional rainfall of the winter with subsequent reactivation of the
springs, however, provided a temporary respite. The Council had
occasion again to join with other local authorities and the River
Wandle Protection Association in opposing proposals under the Water
Acts, 1945-48, further to deplete the underground water supplies by
increasing abstraction.
The district is to a large extent a dormitory area for London.
Except for the southern part, where a considerable area is included in
the Green Belt, it is highly urbanised, the housing density increasing
as one proceeds northwards. Consequently for all practical purposes
there is no scope for further housing development within the boundaries
of the district. The greater part of the housing accommodation
is occupied by the working classes, the London County Council's
Estate comprising 5,600 dwellings, making a large contribution to
this type of development. The average rateable value per head of
population is the lowest but one in Surrey.
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