Berkshire council area

Selling Land in Slough

Slough has one of the oldest local plans in the South East, a young and fast growing population, and far more need for homes than land to put them on. A new Local Plan has just begun, Heathrow's third runway is back on the table, and the council's own figures show how few family houses are being built.

Free review of your land in Slough

We pay for the planning, at our own cost and risk
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If planning is refused, you keep your land and owe nothing

Slough at a Glance

Slough Borough Council covers a small and heavily built-up borough: the town itself, with Britwell, Cippenham, Upton, Chalvey, Wexham and Langley, and the villages of Colnbrook and Poyle beyond Langley. The M4 runs along its southern side and Slough is on the Elizabeth line. According to a 2024 council report covered in the local press, the population grew by 13% between 2011 and 2021 to 158,500, twice the national rate, and it is one of the youngest in the country.

An old plan. The Core Strategy was adopted on 16 December 2008 and covers 2006 to 2026. It planned for at least 6,250 homes, 3,000 of them in the town centre.
A new plan from scratch. Under the new plan making system, the council published its notice on 30 June 2026 and ran a scoping consultation and call for sites from 13 July to 24 August 2026. The plan will look ahead to 2046, and the council's timetable aims for adoption on 20 December 2028.
Need running ahead of land. Council officers reported in 2024 that Slough needed 14,552 new homes by 2041 but could see supply for about 8,571, a gap of nearly 6,000.
Green Belt mostly in one place. The Core Strategy says the only substantial area of Green Belt in Slough lies south of the M4 and east of Langley, around Colnbrook and Poyle. A 2021 review also tested smaller pieces near Wexham and Upton.

Scoring 54% in the government's 2025 delivery test puts Slough among the councils assumed to be short of homes. In a borough this built up, the effect is felt most on sites within the town and in the arguments over its few remaining open edges. Our Berkshire page shows how Slough compares with its neighbours.

Slough in Figures

The government's latest figures for the council, and where its local plan stands.

Housing Delivery Test 2025
54%
Below 75%: treated as having evidenced unmet housing need under national policy S5.
Homes built against homes needed
1,353
of 2,528 needed, April 2022 to March 2025
Most recent strategic plan adopted
December 2008
More than five years old, so its housing figures are usually replaced by the government's standard method.
New plan progress
Updated
New plan started: scoping and call for sites July to August 2026, adoption aimed for December 2028
Checked source

Sources: Housing Delivery Test: 2025 measurement, MHCLG, published 17 August 2026; Local plans: monitoring progress, Planning Inspectorate, August 2026. Local plans move quickly, so always check the council's own website for the latest position.

Homes in the Centre of Slough

For many years the council's strategy has been to put most new homes in and around the town centre. The Core Strategy set a minimum of 3,000 there, and the 2020 spatial strategy consultation raised the estimate to around 9,000. The largest sites it counted were:

The former Horlicks factory, for about 1,300 homes.
The Queensmere and Observatory shopping centres, for at least 1,000 homes through redevelopment.
The North West Quadrant, for about 1,300 homes.

The council now says the 2020 strategy requires review and updating, so these are best read as the scale it had in mind for the centre rather than a current count.

The Homes Slough Is Short Of

Of the 827 homes finished in the year to April 2024, only 64 were affordable and 91% were flats or maisonettes, according to the same council report. It also found that people in Slough have 27.2 square metres of living space each, against 36.5 nationally, and that what families need most are houses with gardens. Land that can take a small group of houses, rather than another block of flats, fills a gap the council itself has identified.

Why the Shortfall Figures Differ

Anyone reading the council's documents side by side will meet several figures for the gap. The 2020 spatial strategy worked from a need of 17,860 homes between 2016 and 2036 under the government method of the time, and expected to fall about 5,000 short. The 2021 Green Belt consultation repeated that figure. The 2024 report looked further ahead, to 2041, and put the gap at 5,981. Different periods and methods explain most of the variation. What has held steady across all three is a shortfall in the thousands, and a council that has twice looked beyond its built-up area, to Green Belt land and to southern Buckinghamshire, to close it.

Small Sites Across the Town

Most of our interest in Slough is in smaller pieces of previously developed land and underused plots between existing homes. The Core Strategy expected only around 600 homes from small sites within the urban area across twenty years, so each one that comes forward adds to a thin supply. Under policy S4 of the August 2026 National Planning Policy Framework, a proposal for homes inside the town starts with the balance tilted in its favour: refusal needs harm that substantially outweighs the benefits. Before we commit to a site, we work through four things:

The access. Backland plots often depend on a driveway or a lane. We check its width and ownership first, because a plot without a usable way in rarely goes anywhere. Our guide to access and ransom strips explains why.
The mix. We test whether the site suits houses, which Slough needs most, as well as flats or a mixture.
The neighbours. Overlooking, daylight and parking are measured and designed for before drawings go to the council.
The ground and the noise. Former commercial land may need contamination surveys, and sites near the M4 or under aircraft need a noise assessment.

We pay for every one of those reports, and you carry on using the land as you do now until the purchase completes.

Colnbrook, Poyle and the Heathrow Question

The Core Strategy treats the countryside around Colnbrook and Poyle as part of a strategic gap between Slough and Greater London, which includes the Colne Valley Park. It is the largest open area left in the borough.

Why the Council Started Its Plan Again

The 2020 spatial strategy assumed that there would not be any expansion of Heathrow Airport in the short to medium term. That assumption no longer holds. The council now says that Heathrow Airport Limited's expansion proposals include development affecting parts of Slough's Green Belt, and that this was part of the reason it moved to the new plan making system in December 2025. Its July 2026 scoping consultation put the question plainly: "The Government may direct us to develop some of the Colne Valley Regional Park to build the third runway for Heathrow, and other parts to provide family homes."

In June 2026 the government published a draft Heathrow Expansion National Policy Statement for consultation, closing on 1 September 2026. It supports a new north west runway of up to 3,500 metres, and a decision on a development consent order could follow in the first half of 2029. Until the scheme takes its final shape, land around Colnbrook and Poyle carries real uncertainty, and we treat each enquiry there on its own facts.

Green Belt the Council Has Looked at Before

In 2021 the council consulted on releasing Green Belt land for family housing, citing a shortfall of around 5,000 homes and a lack of brownfield sites suitable for family homes. Of ten sites tested, it judged five suitable, including land east of Wexham Park Hospital, the former School of Nursing on Wexham Street and Upton Court Farm, with room for roughly 600 to 900 homes in all. That consultation never became an adopted plan, but it shows where the council has already accepted that the Green Belt may be weaker. Policy S5's unmet need route stops at the Green Belt boundary, so the real question for this land is whether it counts as grey belt, which our grey belt guide explains.

Water, Noise and the Northern Boundary

Local issue	What it means for land in Slough
Flooding	The Core Strategy identifies part of the borough as Flood Zone 3 and records significant flooding around Colnbrook and Poyle in 2000 to 2001 and 2003. The 2020 strategy also flags parts of Cippenham along the Bath Road. Land in the higher flood zones faces the sequential test, though the homes can sometimes be kept to the drier part of a site.
The M4 and the airport	Noise and air quality shape layouts beside the motorway and under the flight paths, and sometimes the number of homes a site can take.
The Buckinghamshire boundary	The council's 2020 strategy said Slough's unmet need could only be met in a narrow area of southern Buckinghamshire, south of the M40. Land there is outside Slough and is decided under Buckinghamshire's own plan and figures.
The Elizabeth line	The Core Strategy expected Crossrail to improve the accessibility of Langley and Burnham stations. National policy now favours homes, at higher densities, on land a reasonable walk from stations with a frequent service.

These are the matters we look at in the free desktop review, so that nothing important is discovered after the planning work has begun.

What We Look for in Slough

Yards, garages, workshops and commercial units in residential areas.
Backland and large garden plots with a realistic access, especially where houses could be built.
Older offices and industrial buildings outside the main employment areas.
Land close to the Elizabeth line stations.
Green Belt land around Wexham and Upton, where the council has tested sites before, that may be grey belt.
Land at Colnbrook and Poyle, looked at case by case given Heathrow.

Every review starts with your site rather than the borough as a whole. How our agreements work, including the planning costs we carry, is on our how it works page.

Questions Landowners in Slough Ask

Slough's plan is from 2008. Does that help my application?

In part. An old plan carries less weight where it conflicts with current national policy, and with delivery at 54% the need for homes counts strongly. What decides most applications in Slough now is national policy, especially S4 for land within the town and the grey belt tests in the Green Belt.

I missed the call for sites that closed in August 2026. Is it too late?

No. The council's timetable has a consultation on the plan's proposed content from 18 January to 1 March 2027 and on the full proposed plan from 11 October to 6 December 2027, and sites can still be raised along the way. Land can also come forward through a planning application while the plan is prepared.

My land is near Colnbrook. Should I wait to see what Heathrow does?

Talk to us first. Whether it makes sense to act now depends on where the land sits in relation to the proposed runway and its associated works. In some places waiting is the sensible answer, and we will tell you if so.

Would the council rather see flats than houses?

The council's own figures show that most recent homes have been flats and very few were affordable, while the greatest need is for family homes. A site that can offer houses, or a mix, answers a gap the council has identified itself.

What does it cost me to find out whether my land has potential?

Nothing. The review is free, and if we go ahead under an option agreement we pay for all the planning work. We contribute towards your solicitor and land agent as well, so having the agreement properly handled on your side costs you nothing.

Tell Us About Your Land in Slough

It takes about two minutes. We only need your postcode, your name and a phone number or email; the rest helps us look properly. We reply within 2 working days, in confidence.

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Sources

We update this page when new Housing Delivery Test results or local plan milestones are published. Planning positions change quickly, so always check the council's own website before relying on it.