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Section A—Natural and Social
Conditions of the District
Area (in acres) 3,346
Estimated number of separate dwellings (end of
1963) according to Rate Books 17,647
Rateable Value at 31st December, 1963 £2,293,155
Sum represented by ld. rate £9,351
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 ponds which are fed by the springs
and the ornamental waters at the head of the river are a characteristic
feature and amenity of Carshalton. The increasing demands for water for
domestic purposes throughout the Metropolitan Area has resulted in a
progressive increase in the abstraction of the underground supplies in the
London basinand thisconstitutesacontinuous threat to the local ornamental
waters. The Water Act 1945 provides the Minister with additional powers to
conserve water supplies and to restrict further abstraction in special areas
such as Greater London to those additional works for which he is prepared
to give a licence. The need for more water in the area supplied by the
Sutton Water Company including Carshalton, has continued to increase
and the Company now propose to sink a further well approximately
three quarters of a mile from the ponds and the springs which feed them.
How much this will affect the ponds cannot be anticipated, but there can
be little doubt that there would be some diminution of the spring flow with
a greater risk of drying up of the ponds. If the threat to public health
from stagnation of the ponds and the loss of a greatly prized amenity are
to be avoided, some expedient such as re-circulation of the river water
from a point downstream is essential.
The district is mainly residential, there being little industry established
locally. It has a large proportion of lower paid workers and consequently
the rateable value per head of population is the lowest but one in Urban
Surrey. With virtually no room for expansion, the average age of the
population continues to rise and the number to fall.
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