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SECTION A.
STATISTICS AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS OF THE AREA
Area (in acres) 3,238
Population (Census 1961) 67,974
Population 1962 (Registrar-General's Estimate) 67,560
Number of inhabited houses (according to Rate
Books) 22,469
Rateable Value (as at 31st December, 1962) £1,370,498
Sum represented by Id. rate £5,566
The Urban District of Merton and Morden lies in the valley of the
Thames and is one of the areas of the so-called outer ring; that is to say
part of Greater London within the Metropolitan Police district, outside
the Administrative County of London and the City of London and the
area is drained by the River Wandle, the Py1 and Beverley Brooks, tributaries
of the Thames. The district is generally flat and sheltered, the whole
lying between the 42-ft. and 141-ft. ordnance datum levels. With the
exception of a belt of sand or alluvium in the north-eastern part running
through Merton Park, the rest of the district has a subsoil of clay.
The area is both residential and industrial and, as has been described
before, except for a few factories in the older parts of the area and some
unavoidable fringes, industry has been planned so as to occupy three main
factory sites, leaving the residential parts of the area generally to enjoy
the quietness of their homes remote from the noise and essential traffic of
industry.
The residential part of the district is part London dormitory and
partly and increasingly occupied by residents engaged in industry or
business within the area, but a very large number of workers come into
the area daily so that the day-time population concentrated in the factory
areas is an important factor to be borne in mind in considering any
arrangements for the population of the district.
The greater portion of housing of the district is owner occupied, but
the Council owns and manages a pre-war housing estate of some 500
houses and has built several large four-storey blocks of flats scattered in
various parts of the area to meet the post-war housing need. A considerable
part of Morden is formed of the St. Helier L.C.C. housing estate.
The area is fortunate in having secured the provision of extensive
open spaces, in all amounting to 368 acres, in fourteen different parks, so
that there is an even distribution of recreational facilities throughout the
area. The National Trust owns 70-odd acres of this land and acquisition
of the remaining 290 acres is due to the wisdom and foresight of successive
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