Cabinet approves Tower and Ashbourne House demolitions for redevelopment

The demolition of two mostly empty tower blocks was approved by Slough Borough Council’s (SBC) cabinet yesterday (Monday), but two residents are staying put until they get a better deal.

Recommendations to demolish Tower House and Ashbourne House in Chalvey Park and for the council to submit a planning application for a new housing scheme were approved at the meeting at SBC's Bath Road headquarters.

The council agreed it wanted to redevelop the site in 2015 due to the increasing obsolescence of the two blocks as well as a high rate of anti-social behaviour.

If planning permission is approved, the council’s new scheme will include 195, low rise social housing units, compared to the existing 104 flats.

SBC leader Cllr James Swindlehurst (Lab, Cippenham Green) said the council is still trying to persuade two leaseholders to move out of their flats, despite offering them substantial sums of money.

“It’s dictated by the two residents who remain and who we have to do business with,” said Cllr Swindlehurst.

The cabinet also announced its recommitment to buy the freeholding company of Nova House, a seven-storey tower block in Buckingham Gardens which failed a cladding safety test in the wake of the Grenfell Tower disaster.

The council announced its intention to buy Ground Rent Estates 5 LTD in October as it thought the freeholder was not acting quickly enough to rectify safety issues.

At Monday’s meeting SBC’s director of place and development Mike England said: “We’ve looked very carefully at all the options including what would happen if we don’t go ahead with the acquisition.”

He called taking over the building as ‘the least bad option’.

Leaseholders still may have to pay for the estimated £1m in cladding costs, however the council will pursue a claim against insurers BLP if it takes over the block.

An estimated £4m is required to fix a wide array of issues in the building.

An SBC spokeswoman said the council would carry out improvement works before charging residents and that payment requests would be handled with ‘sensitivity’.