Two more floors of flats to be added to Slough High Street building

Dozens of new flats are planned for a building in the heart of Slough – increasing its height by two stories.

A total of 45 flats are set for Landmark Place Slough High Street, on the corner of Windsor Road and the High Street, near the Travelodge.

The flats will form part of a roof extension to constructs two more floors. In them, there will be 22 one-bedroom flats and 23 two-bedroom.

The new floors will add to about 90 flats already in the building, given the go-ahead last May. This was a conversation of the office space that used to host a council customer service centre.

Officers recommended that the council agree to recommendations that the flats will be approved subject to a ‘satisfactory’ Section 106 agreement.

S106s are effectively agreements by developers to fund improvements to the local area, to make planning proposals more attractive to the local authority.

The S106 for this particular site is an agreement to secure contributions for ‘habitat and infrastructure mitigation’ and highways works.

Further, it was recommended the council refuse the application if the completion of the S106 agreement is not finalised by April 28.

In terms of car parking, 56 spaces from the basement will be allocated, making 0.5 spaces per flat. There will also be 45 cycle parking spaces – one each.

No affordable housing is included – because it would ‘not be viable’, according to planning documents submitted by the developer.

In council reports, it was acknowledged that a scheme providing one- and two-bed flats is ‘not in line’ with core policy ‘which seeks out of town centre sites to comprise family housing.’

Since the Landmark Place plans count as a major planning application, the proposals had to be put in front of Slough’s Planning Committee, which met to discuss them on Wednesday.

The committee discussed concerns over the relative lack of family homes in Slough – but it was acknowledged that the town centre, which is generally high density, is the place for flats like these.

To build family homes, the council may seek to release greenbelt sites elsewhere in Slough Borough.

“If we were to release any greenbelt sites, it will certainly not be for flatted accommodation – it will be for family housing,” said Councillor Pavitar Mann, cabinet member for housing and planning.

The panel agreed to delegate the decision to approve the application to Slough council’s planning manager.