The Queensmere Observatory shopping centres could be close to being sold, Slough Borough Council’s leader has said.
Plans to demolish the two town centre malls and replace them with new businesses, shops and homes were approved by councillors in September 2022 but no work has been done since.
Now though, Slough Borough Council has confirmed the shopping centre is being marketed by its owner the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA).
The council said the owner has received a number of bids ‘which are now being turned into best and final offers’.
READ MORE: 'Significant progress' on Queensmere Observatory agreement, council says
The redevelopment of the connected shopping centre is a major part of town centre regeneration hopes.
Under the plans, the two shopping centres would be demolished and replaced with over a thousand new homes, along with shops, offices, and public open space.
But in March last year, the Observer reported that ADIA was seeking help from the government to continue with the project.
A legal agreement between ADIA and the council needed to finalise planning permission – known as a Section 106 agreement – is still yet to be signed.
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Section 106 agreements outline what contributions developers will make to services and infrastructure.
They’re a normal part of the planning process, usually worked out after councillors grant approval, and formal planning permission isn’t granted until one has been signed.
Slough Borough Council told the Observer last July that the agreement was close to being finalised, yet it has confirmed that six months later it has still not been completed.
Once the Section 106 agreement is signed, anyone who buys the site from ADIA will also have the benefit of having full planning permission in place.
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A council spokesperson told the Observer : “The centre is being marketed and interested parties have submitted initial bids which are now being turned into best and final offers.
“We are in continual contact with ADIA and their agents but cannot comment on what is a live process.” The spokesperson added: “The S106 is being finalised.”
The confirmation comes after council leader Dexter Smith told other councillors at a meeting last month he believed the sale was ‘about to go through’.
Councillor Smith said the likely sale of the Queensmere Observatory affected the council’s plans to sell some of its own properties.
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He said: “A big consideration at the moment is the general health of the Slough market when we saw coming the fact that the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority was going to put the shopping centre up for sale.”
He added that if the council ‘had gone all guns blazing into the market in disposing of a lot of our assets’ it would have ‘flooded the market’.
“Then you would have had the sale of Queensmere Observatory, which is about to go through, happening at a time when the market was depressed,” he said.
ADIA did not respond to a request for comment. British Land, ADIA’s development manager for the Queensmere Observatory project, said it can’t comment at this time.
