Slough Borough Council: Introduction to the development

Introduction to the development

Introduction

Slough Council has aspired for some years to achieve a radical comprehensive development of key sites within Slough that would deliver significant change to the infrastructure and appearance of the area.

The Slough’s Millennium project in 1995, showed the town centre was not fulfilling its full potential as a community and leisure area. The Local Plan for Slough, 2004 also recognised the inadequacy of the town centre and the potential for its redevelopment.

The perceived problems within the town centre include:

a lot of areas of land are dominated by public highway, including the wasted area of the sunken A4/William Street roundabout
severing effect of the A4, with pedestrians forced to use subways and cyclists not catered for in a safe manner
lack of focus and identity or sense of entering the town centre
poor architecture and lack of landmark buildings at one of Slough’s principle gateways
poor pedestrian and cycle links between the railway station and town centre/shopping centre
bleak unwelcoming environment outside Slough station, with muddled usage patterns on forecourt areas
poor unwelcoming environment in the Bus Station and at bus stops outside the Queensmere shopping centre
lack of integrated rail/bus/transport interchange

The Local Plan For Slough, 2004 identified the following aims for the regeneration of Slough, named the ‘Heart of Slough’ project:

to improve the image and role of the town centre as a provider of leisure, employment and housing, by new development opportunities for such uses as; arts, leisure, cultural, heritage, community, hotel/conference and offices, plus residential and public car parking
to improve pedestrian access at surface level between the bus and railway stations, the university and the rest of the town centre
to relocate the existing bus station facility
to improve the appearance of the town centre by reducing road surface where possible and redeveloping unattractive buildings such as Brunel multi-storey car park and by creating new public spaces

The Core Strategy 2006 – 2026 (Submission Document) sets out the Spatial Strategy for Slough in Core Policy 1. Core Policy 1 sets out the principles for where development should be located within the Borough. The strategy recognises that the town centre is in need of environmental enhancement and that the centre has the most capacity for absorbing change. It also states that the prominence of the town centre means that any improvements to its image, environment or facilities are likely to have maximum benefit for the Borough as a whole.

The Spatial Strategy is in line with the national policy to put town centres first and seeks to implement the “Region Hub” concept in the draft South East Plan.

The Core Strategy therefore states the spatial strategy will build upon major town centre regeneration schemes such as the Heart of Slough to project and promote a sustainable, comprehensively planned, high-qulity, high-density, mixed-use environment. it should also ensure the necessary infrastructure and community facilities/services are located in highly accessible locations.