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Early mornings and late afternoons show serious traffic congestion on the A4, Uxbridge Rd., Windsor Rd, Stoke Road, Station Road and most other roads. So many Slough residents now have to work outside the borough that they clog up the roads! Clearly there is an imbalance between housing and jobs within Slough borough itself. It matters and it's serious because the population is still growing, whilst at the same time businesses are leaving the town for more convenient and amenable locations! When is Slough going to get a coherent and balanced town plan? The old maxim applies too "When in a hole stop digging"! Thank you for your question. The Borough’s population in the 2001 census was 119,000. About 20,000 go outside of Slough to work and a similar number come in from outside to work here so there is a mismatch of skills and jobs locally that exacerbates the problems of an already dense urban area. We are about to produce a new Local Transport Plan and I am bidding for increased investment in our highways in the next budget round. Clearly land for development is at a premium and the new Structure Plan for Berkshire for the period beyond 2006 is proposing a 50% reduction in Slough's housing allocation. Building rates will thus soon be reducing substantially as a result. The forthcoming production of a new Local Development Document will afford a further opportunity to review this situation. Freedom of Information Request for the Local Development Document submitted on 29 December 2005. |