Slough Residents' Questions - 24 July 2007

 

 

Question 21

29 July 2007

From Alan Tilbury, Slough Party

In Britwell parking on pavements and verges can be a problem. The Council's knocking down of garages and its plans to build flats in garage blocks will not only create more motor vehicle traffic on Britwell's already overcrowded roads but also make on-street parking, on-pavements parking and on-verges parking problems much worse to the detriment of the local community.

The Slough Party policy has always been to erect secure metal gates at the entrance to Britwell's garage blocks, put a street light in and charge residents a £5 per week for safe off-street parking.

What is the Council's policy on the matter of Britwell's garage blocks?

Reply Councillor Tony Haines

The Council's policy on garages in Britwell is no different to the policy implemented across the entire Borough. The garage strategy was adopted in 2005 and commenced with an accurate survey of all 226 garage sites across Slough. Sites were allocated to one of three bands -

Green sites
are those which are in bad repair, predominantly vacant and are on large sites which represent significant investment opportunities in terms of alternative housing provision.

Amber sites
are generally smaller, with lower levels of vacancy or in high demand but requiring significant investment to upgrade the facilities. Some sites can be redeveloped but only by aggregating land with adjoining sites or properties.

Red sites
are high demand, well maintained smaller sites with no development potential. These sites will always be retained for garage provision.

According to the survey, within Britwell there are 70 garages sites providing 874 parking spaces; of those only 367 are currently let, leaving 507 empty units many of which are clean, in good repair and available should residents wish to rent them from the Council. Only 10 sites have been identified for possible development and this of course is subject to full consultation and the statutory planning process. Even if all of these sites were redeveloped only 186 garages would be removed from the register and Britwell would still have more that sufficient garage space for rent.

By reducing the level of surplus the Council can attract additional investment into the borough and in turn this will allow us to invest in the retained garages to improve them and bring them up to a modern standard.