o/t not football related but slough related

[Amber Rebel]

just read this on the sbc website,

 

Slough Borough Council’s cabinet councillors have made the decision to sell the existing Town Hall site and regenerate it with new housing, helping to revitalise this area of the borough.

 

Financial, logistical and planning information put forward to councillors at the meeting revealed that keeping the core of the old Town Hall on the site, and have it worked into plans for a housing development, could potentially devalue the land by more than £2million.

 

Because of this significant difference in value, councillors agreed that there were no grounds to justify retaining the Town Hall building on the site.

 

The cabinet believes this money could be put to better use in regenerating and improving facilities around the town.

 

At the end of last year, the council carried out a consultation exercise to find out resident, business and council staff views on where a new Town Hall should be located, and whether the core of the old Town Hall building should be retained.

 

The majority of people voted for a new town centre based Town Hall (57 per cent) and nearly half of respondents (47 per cent) said that the Town Hall core should be kept.

 

Council officers are now looking into options for a town centre based Town Hall.

 

A series of consultation events are being carried out next week by the council’s planning consultants, Drivers Jonas, to show residents and businesses an outline of what the current Town Hall site could look like when it is developed. The events will be taking place on:

 

Wednesday 20th February from 10am to 4pm in the Town Hall reception (Ledgers Rd Entrance)

Wednesday 20th February from 5pm to 7pm in the old Town Hall (Bath Road entrance)

Thursday 21st February from 10am to 4pm in the MyCouncil entrance foyer.

On both days, Drivers Jonas will be present to answer questions between 10am and 12pm and 2pm and 4pm. They will also be at the evening session at the old Town hall on 20th February. If the public attends outside of these times they will be able to see the plans and pick up a questionnaire to give their views and send back to the council.

 

In light of Cabinet's decision, it will still be necessary to ensure that the loss of the Town Hall core is fully justified in planning terms. As part of the planning application submission, evidence will be submitted to support the commercial and architectural case for the removal of the Town hall core.

 

Cllr Geoff Howard, commissioner for resources, said: “There was a clear divide between the people who wanted the Town Hall core kept, and the people who didn’t or were indifferent.

 

“Obviously without a resounding ‘yes’ on keeping the building, we had to weigh up the financial implications if we did keep it, especially as most people wanted the town hall moved to the town centre.

 

“Furthermore, there is a fiduciary duty on the council to get fair value for the site and if we did receive £2million pounds less than the market value it would probably get called in by the Secretary of State.

 

“The sale would likely be overturned, which would be expensive for the council, and this makes retaining the core of the town hall a questionable decision, especially in light of an independent architect’s assessment that the building had no real architectural value.

 

“We felt that such a sum of money was a huge amount to lose, particularly when this money could be put to good use on improving facilities, public buildings and open space for the benefit of all residents.

 

“I would urge residents to come along to the consultation sessions to look at what the site could look like when it is developed and give their views.”

 

 

 

i kinow its been around for a while but wondered whether the apathy of people in slough is justified or not or whether selling off character buildings for housing is ok, came back today from leamington visiting a friend and it seems that the council there are proud of their architectural heritage and do everything they can to preserve their old buildings and it is noticable as you go through leamington town.

next up horlicks

[brighton_rebel]

This has been going on in Slough for years. The Bath Road especially is just a non-descript [****!!****]-hole where it at least used to have a few old pubs and houses.

I'm sure the old Town Hall facade could be kept and incorporated into the design, but its much easier to flatten it all and build hundreds of lego land houses that all look the same. Housing is a real problem in the town, but they don't have to build [****!!****] ones.

[Bernie Gogan]

Got to say that knocking down the old Town Hall will remove for ever any vestige of character the town had. Most of it went in the 70's, the destruction of which is preserved in one of the Carry On films as the cast travel up & down Wellington Street in a coach!

 

Slough was never an attractive town, but some of the houses down Windsor Road and around the station and along the A4 near the Grammar School were special (some still there), as was the old South Bucks Council building by the Police Station.

 

Crown Corner, The White Hart, we even used to have a cattle market!Oh & a football ground!!