A £95 MILLION regeneration of a ‘neglected’ canal-side industrial area has been approved.

Slough Borough Council gave the go ahead to a demolition budget of £500,000 to tear down the Stoke Wharf site, Stoke Road, and replace it with hundreds of residential dwellings.

The council purchased the Stoke Wharf area in June, and has been making preparations to redevelop it since then.

Initial plans between Slough Urban Renewal and the developer, Waterside Places, include a 240 mixed tenure housing scheme and a bid to regenerate the Slough Basin ‘into a destination for boaters and canal lovers alike’.

Plans will be submitted to the Slough Borough Council planning committee sometime in early 2018. It is expected that the development will take two and half years to complete and a contractor has yet to be selected.

Cllr Zaffar Ajaib said: “For too long our beautiful canal has been hidden from view, and the basin neglected and ignored.

“By approving this funding we can start to move forward with proposals for the area, and can regenerate what is a real asset to the town by building high quality homes, the creation of community access to the water, and major enhancements to the public realm.”

No information is available as of yet regarding how many of the new homes would be affordable housing.

Under the terms of the council’s agreement with Morgan Sindall Investments Ltd, 25 per cent of the net profits, and the land value, will be returned to the council to fund other services.