Simplified planning zone (SPZ) scheme 2024 - 2034
The Simplified planning zone (SPZ) is a specialised planning policy tool that sets out a range of conditions that, if met, allows specific development such as datacentres, warehouses, research and development centres and ancillary retail and employment uses to be built without the need to apply for individual planning permissions.
The Adopted SPZ Scheme is available from the links below:
- SPZ 2024-2034 Scheme written scheme (including conditions and informatives). The boundary and extent of the SPZ Zone are shown on ‘SPZ Plan 1'.
- SPZ 2024- 2034 Scheme Plans & Appendices - a series of separate documents due to their file size, but all are part of the adopted SPZ Scheme.
Planning applications for development not covered by the SPZ must be applied for through the usual Development Management process, but the principles or precedents set within it may be material considerations. For clarity Planning applications for development permitted by the SPZ, but that are outside of the SPZ area must also come forward in the usual Development management pathway.
The SPZ is accompanied by a ‘Section 106’ legal document, which sets out mitigation measures for SEGRO and the council to invest on or near the Slough Trading Estate and in the local community. This is distinct from SEGROs Community Investment Plan in Slough but will complement it. A summary of the S106 will be provided here for information when available.
The SPZ was adopted on 12 November 2024 and will expire on 11 November 2034. It was approved by Cabinet on 21 October 2024. And the six weeks right to challenge period ended on the 27 December 2024.
This replaces the previous SPZ which expired on 11 November 2024.
Slough Trading Estate
SEGRO’s ownership and management of the Trading Estate enable it to have an important role in Slough’s economic success by:
- attracting and retaining international investment in the town
- supporting business growth
- creating jobs for local people, and
- funding local services through business rates.
In 2024, it was home to 350 businesses which employed over 15,000 people and generated over £49 million in business rates.
The area has been covered by successive SPZs for 30 years, enabling SEGRO to deliver industrial floorspace, infrastructure, and amenity space with speed and certainty for existing and new occupiers, whilst removing the administrative burden for the council of processing individual planning applications. The decision to negotiate a new SPZ formed part of Slough Council’s commitment to residents and businesses to retain Slough Trading Estate’s reputation as a well located, thriving and responsive destination for business. The updated conditions and new Design Code future proof the proposals by retaining and improving on plot landscaping and high-quality design.
Slough Museum (hosted at 72 Buckingham Avenue) holds information from the Trading Estate’s beginnings as a repair site for World War 1 military vehicles in 1920, to its 100th anniversary in 2020, and the present day as Europe’s largest trading estate under single ownership.
The Notice of proposed adoption of proposals can be found on The Gazette website.