Slough planning: 824 homes needed a year, half built

Slough Borough Council is still making planning decisions against a Core Strategy its own Full Council adopted on 16 December 2008, written for the period 2006 to 2026. That period ran out this year. The replacement is not expected to be adopted until 20 December 2028.

The gap matters more here than in most places, because the numbers are stark. The council’s own scoping document, published on 13 July 2026, says the borough “has a Standard Housing Methodology housing need (currently 824 a year) but delivers nearer half of this”, and that “Slough has some of the highest levels of overcrowding in the country”.

The new Local Plan, and the date that matters now

The plan covers 2026 to 2046. The first public stage, the scoping consultation, is open until 11.59pm on Monday 24 August 2026. This is the stage where the council asks what the plan should cover rather than what it should decide, so it is the cheapest point at which to be heard.

Four things are open at once on the council’s consultation portal: the Scoping Matters document and draft engagement strategy, a draft methodology for assessing which sites could take development, five draft conservation area appraisals, and a Call for Sites, which invites anyone, not only developers, to nominate land.

The council says it will keep the timetable under review, so treat the 2028 dates as intent rather than commitment. The August date is firm.

What the council says the plan has to solve

The scoping document is unusually blunt for a planning paper. Read alongside each other, its own statements describe a borough that cannot build what it needs on the land it has:

• 824 homes a year needed, about half delivered. That is the government’s standard method figure, not an ambition the council picked.
• “The proportion of family homes built has been quite small.” Slough builds flats because flats are what its sites take.
• Overcrowding among the worst in the country, and family houses being lost to houses in multiple occupation.
• “Limited undeveloped land”, with redevelopment “constrained by redevelopment viability, competing land uses or complications of land assembly”.
• A Green Belt assessment that “will inform what sites could be released for family housing”, now that the government has made Green Belt release easier.
• Heathrow expansion, which the council expects to shape homes, jobs and infrastructure “especially in Colnbrook and Poyle”.

Queensmere: 1,600 homes, and what the first 359 look like

The single biggest scheme in the borough is the redevelopment of the Queensmere shopping centre, a 4.8 hectare town-centre site that also takes in Wellington House, Duke House and the Empire Cinema. The centre closed its doors in January 2026.

Outline permission (reference P/19689/000) was granted on 18 August 2025 for up to 1,600 dwellings. The committee report for the next stage records that the outline application proposed up to 1,600 homes “which a minimum of 75 affordable homes to be provided in accordance with the s106 agreement”.

On 24 June 2026 the council’s Planning Committee considered the reserved matters for the first phase, reference P-19689-002, and resolved to “Delegate to the Planning Manager to approve, subject to conditions”. That phase is blocks A, H and I: 359 homes in buildings of 4 to 16 storeys, 1,204 square metres of flexible commercial floorspace, and two new pieces of public realm, Herschel Square and Station Walk.

Two details in that report are worth holding onto.

First, the mix. Of the 359 homes, 18 are studios, 165 are one-bedroom, 172 are two-bedroom and 4 are three-bedroom. In a borough whose own plan document names family housing as the central problem, the flagship scheme’s opening phase delivers four family-sized flats.

Second, the tenure. The report states plainly that “All dwellings are private/market dwellings”, and that the affordable housing obligations sit in the section 106 agreement attached to the outline permission, which “does not obligate the applicant to deliver affordable housing within Phase A”. Five per cent of the phase will be designed to be wheelchair accessible. The scheme also pays £570 per additional dwelling towards enhancements at Upton Court Park, mitigation for extra recreational pressure on Burnham Beeches.

The other decision from that meeting

At the same 24 June meeting the committee dealt with 45 The Frithe (P-20778-002), an application to remove the condition that stopped a property being “sub divided or used in multiple occupation”, so that it could house up to five residents as a small HMO. The committee resolved to delegate to the Planning Manager to refuse.

That is the loss-of-family-homes argument from the Local Plan document being applied one house at a time, which is what happens when a borough has to hold a line without an up-to-date plan behind it.

How to look up a Slough planning application

Slough does not use the Idox Public Access system that most councils run, so the usual guesses at a URL will fail. Two council systems matter:

• sbcplanning.co.uk/plansearch.php is the document search. Enter a reference such as P/19689/002 to pull up the plans and reports for a scheme.
• The Citizen Portal carries the register of applications, including the weekly list of newly registered ones.

Committee reports and minutes, which are usually more readable than the application file itself, are published at slough.moderngov.co.uk. Planning Committee normally meets on the last Wednesday of the month at 6.30pm at Observatory House, 25 Windsor Road.

Frequently asked questions

How many homes does Slough have to build each year?

824 a year under the government’s standard method, as stated in the council’s Local Plan scoping document of 13 July 2026. The same document says the borough delivers “nearer half of this”.

Does Slough have an up-to-date Local Plan?

No. The adopted Core Strategy was approved by Full Council on 16 December 2008 and covered 2006 to 2026. The replacement plan, covering 2026 to 2046, is at its first consultation stage and is not expected to be adopted until 20 December 2028.

When does the Slough Local Plan consultation close?

11.59pm on Monday 24 August 2026. Responses go through the consultation portal, by email to planningpolicy@slough.gov.uk, or by post to the Planning Policy Team, Observatory House, 25 Windsor Road, Slough, SL1 2EL.

What is happening to the Queensmere shopping centre?

It closed in January 2026. Outline permission for up to 1,600 homes across the 4.8 hectare site was granted in August 2025, and the first phase of 359 homes in blocks of 4 to 16 storeys was approved by committee on 24 June 2026.

How much affordable housing will Queensmere provide?

The outline permission secures a minimum of 75 affordable homes across a scheme of up to 1,600, through the section 106 agreement. None of them are in the first phase of 359 homes, which the committee report describes as entirely private market housing.

Is Slough’s Green Belt going to be built on?

The council has commissioned a Green Belt assessment that, in its words, “will inform what sites could be released for family housing”. Nothing has been allocated. The site-by-site decisions come at the next two consultation stages, in 2027.

Sources

• Slough Local Plan Scoping Matters Consultation Document, published 13 July 2026 for the 824-homes figure, the delivery shortfall, the overcrowding and family-homes statements, the Green Belt assessment and the Heathrow context.
• Slough Borough Council, the new local plan for Slough for the Local Plan timetable effective 30 June 2026.
• Slough Borough Council news, new Local Plan scoping consultation for the consultation scope and contact details.
• Slough Borough Council, the local development plan for Slough for the Core Strategy adoption date of 16 December 2008.
• Minutes of Slough Planning Committee, 24 June 2026 for the decisions on P-19689-002 (Queensmere) and P-20778-002 (45 The Frithe).
• Committee report, P-19689-002 Queensmere reserved matters, Phase A for the 1,600-home outline permission, the minimum of 75 affordable homes, the 359-home dwelling mix, the tenure statement and the £570 per dwelling contribution.

Planning positions change between committee cycles. Check the application file on sbcplanning.co.uk before relying on anything here. What homes actually sell for in the borough is on Slough house prices; what the roads are doing while all this is built is on Slough roadworks and travel.