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Section A—Natural and Social
Conditions of the District.
Area (in acres) 3,346
Estimated number of inhabited houses (end of
1960) according to Rate Books 17,614*
Rateable Value at 31st December, 1960 £870,222
Sum represented by 1d. rate £3,578
(*Includes 258 combined with business premises for rating.)
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,
one head of the river arising from several springs at the outcropping of
the chalk near the centre of the district. The County Council is responsible
for the maintenance of the River and its expansions and has, as
stated in previous reports, prepared an improvement scheme for improving
the flow along its Surrey length. Work on the scheme will commence
at the Wandsworth/Wimbledon boundary and in its progress up the
River will not involve Carshalton at the head of these waters until it
reaches its final stages. In the absence of any sustained dry periods, the
flow from the springs was reasonably maintained through the year and
as a result of the heavy rainfall in the autumn all the springs came back
into action, temporarily no doubt.
Largely a dormitory town, most of the workers earn their livelihood
outside the district in London and elsewhere. Only a few light industries
are established within its boundaries and the registered factories and
work-places employ less than 2,000 individuals. Housing development
has now virtually reached saturation point and growth, whilst the sanctity
of the green belt is respected, can only take place by redevelopment to
a higher density, a practice which has increased insteadily as in other
parts of built up suburbia.
The fact that the rateable value per head of population at £14. 8. 0d.
is the lowest in Metropolitan Surrey is a reflection of the relatively high
level of housing density and of the large proportion of residents within
the lower income groups.
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