Council home repairs and town centre regeneration pledge in Slough Labour manifesto

Pledges to invest £9 million to repair council houses in Slough and a commitment to continue the regeneration of the town centre are included in Slough Labour’s manifesto.

The town’s Labour Group unveiled a list of 40 commitments on Friday as residents prepare to go to the polls on May 6.

Council leader James Swindlehurst said the party is committed to overseeing the regeneration of the former Thames Valley University site, near Wellington Street.

He told fellow councillors he expects a planning application for 1,350 new homes and leisure, retail and office space to be submitted in the summer.

The group also pledged to spend £3 million in the next financial year to deliver 575 social and affordable homes on small council-owned sites across the town.

A list of Slough Labour election commitments included:

• Invest £9million in repairs, modernisation and structural improvements to council tenants’ homes
• Start the redevelopment of Tower and Ashbourne House in Chalvey to create 190 homes for social and affordable rent
• Develop a £5million dedicated youth hub in Slough town centre
• Open a new skills, jobs and innovation space to support the town’s economic recovery from coronavirus
• Deliver £2million of highway improvement works across Slough, complete the Langley High Street widening and introduce a separated cycle route in the west of Slough from the Huntercombe roundabout to the town centre
• Support British Land as plans are drawn up for the redevelopment of the Queensmere Observatory Shopping Centre
• Develop plans for the former AkzoNobel paint factory in Wexham Road to provide more than 850 new homes
• Start construction of a new community hub in Trelawney Avenue, Langley, and submit planning applications for new community hubs in Cippenham and north Slough
• Plant 12,000 trees across Slough as part of the council’s Urban Forest project and invest £500,000 in sustainable environment measures, including a Clean Air Plan for Slough.

Councillor Christine Hulme (Lab, Central), chair of the Slough Labour Group, said: “We are an ambitious party in Slough, we want to do the best for our town and despite the tight fiscal situation we find ourselves in with central government I think we’ve presented a programme that people will be proud of.

“We know the coronavirus situation has made it difficult in every part of the country but we’ve got to try and do what we can each day to try and make the best that we can for our people.”

MP for Slough Tan Dhesi said the local elections could act as a ‘springboard’ to getting a Labour government elected under the leadership of Sir Keir Starmer.