A ‘quite high’ number of new homes was built in Slough last year – but only a very few of them were ‘affordable housing’.

A total of 827 homes were built between April 2023 and April 2024. That’s according to a report to Slough Borough Council’s planning committee.

The report says the number is ‘quite high compared to the recent average’ but adds that this makes up for the ‘very low figure of 322 the previous year’.

Just 63 of the new builds fell into the ‘affordable housing’ category and all of them were flats. These are homes rented at a percentage less than market rates, in line with social housing rents, or sold on shared ownership or rent to buy schemes.

Figures also say that 91 per cent of these were flats and maisonettes and only nine per cent of them houses. The report says this reflects the ‘success’ of its core strategy housing policy which tries to direct new development in Slough town centre and ‘other urban areas’.

It says these are areas ‘where flats are generally acceptable’, and also ensures that development in suburban areas is ‘predominantly family housing’. The report adds that this trend ‘is likely to continue into the future’.

Councillors on the planning committee were set to consider the report at a meeting on Wednesday September 25.