London’s rural-urban fringe

Figure 5 is a sketch map that illustrates part of the south-western sector of London’s rural-urban fringe drawn from the Ordnance Survey’s Landranger No.187 Map entitled Dorking, Reigate and Crawley. Figure 6 is an extract from this map that covers part of the area encompassed by Figure 5. You should be able to correlate the following points between the OS map extract and sketch map without too much difficulty:

• the M25 motorway
• the A217
• Epsom racecourse
• the settlements of Ashstead, Leatherhead, Banstead and Tadworth.

Identifying the boundaries of the rural-urban fringe

The critical boundaries are between (a) the continuous built-up area and the rural-urban fringe and (b) the fringe and the surrounding rural area. The boundary between the continuous built-up area and the rural-urban fringe is not difficult to identify (Figure 5). A succession of large open spaces separate the London conurbation from free-standing settlements located within the rural-urban fringe. These open spaces include Horton Country Park, Epsom Common, Epsom Downs and Banstead Downs. Settlements situated within the rural-urban fringe include Leatherhead, Ashstead, Banstead, Tadworth and Walton-on-the-Hill.

The second boundary, that between the rural-urban fringe and the rural area beyond, is perhaps more debatable but it is reasonable to argue that it is formed by the A25 which links the larger fringe towns of Dorking, Reigate and Redhill. To the south of this line:

• the density of population is considerably lower
• the distance between towns is greater
• more settlement is in the form of villages and hamlets
• agriculture is by far the most dominant land use
• the density of major roads decreases
• the level of commuting decreases
• visits from London day trippers fall off considerably
• environmental quality is generally higher.
  
  

Land use characteristics

The rural-urban fringe is characterised by a mixture of land uses, most of which require large areas of land. In the area under consideration the Ordnance Survey map shows a large theme park (Chessington World of Adventures), a major horse-racing course (Epsom), golf courses, cemeteries, hospitals, colleges, prisons and many farms. However, there are other typical fringe land uses not shown by the map. These include retail parks, business parks, waste disposal sites and a wide range of residential areas.

Epsom (Figure 7) has a worldwide reputation in the horse-racing industry. It is the venue for the Derby and the Oaks, two of the five classic horse races. The area around the race course is also renowned for racehorse training. The number of horses in training is approximately 300 spread among 12 trainers.

Chessington World of Adventures (Figure 8) is the biggest theme park and zoo in the South of England with over 1.7 million visitors a year. Chessington Zoo was opened in 1931. After the Second World War Chessington became known for a wider range of activities – circus, funfair and miniature railway – in addition to the zoo. However, in the early 1970s the attendance figures of over 800,000 a year began to decline. In 1981 it was decided to transform the site into a theme park. At a cost of £12 million the new Chessington World of Adventures was opened in 1987. The opening coincided with the opening of the M25 which gives easy access to Chessington from a wide area. About 18 million people live within a two-hour drive.

The people who use the facilities in this area come mainly from London. Land uses such as the theme park and the race course could not be sited within the conurbation because either (a) sufficient space was not available, except within strictly protected areas (parks, commons etc.) or (b) the cost of such a large tract of land would be so great that the business would have no chance of making a profit. Thus it was logical for these land uses to locate where the space requirements could be met as close as possible to the continuous built-up area. It is likely that both Chessington and Epsom would attract considerably fewer visitors if they were located 20 miles further away from London.