Slough looks to tackle poor housing conditions and have ‘healthy homes’ 

Residents in Slough are faced with damp and mould, overcrowding and excess cold in their homes, which all contribute to the health inequalities in the borough.

In the hope of addressing these and other serious issues, a ‘healthy homes’ approach looking at systems across the council was presented to councillors.

It includes priorities around strengthening enforcement and retrofitting homes to make them more energy efficient.

At a health and wellbeing board meeting on Tuesday (March 17), Vanita Dutta, the council’s public health principal, said having a healthy home is key to the prevention of health issues. 

Ms Dutta said: “If you take a step back, housing impacts every aspect of health – housing conditions shape physical health mental health, the way our children develop, the way we age, the way we live independently.

“Poor housing contributes to respiratory diseases, cardiovascular diseases, mental health problems.”

But she recognised that such living conditions disproportionately affect low-income households.

“If you really want to tackle the health inequalities through housing we need to work on cold homes, overcrowding, insecurity associated with poor housing or homelessness, financial stress,” she added.

Approximately 16 per cent of homes in the borough are overcrowded – the fourth highest percentage of overcrowding in England, the meeting heard.

More than 2,700 homes that are privately rented have at least one serious hazard – whether that might be fall hazards or damp, mould or excess cold.

This is ‘considerably higher’ than the 10 per cent national average, the meeting heard.

To tackle this, the Government set a target that by 2030 all rented properties – both private rented and social housing – will need to have a minimum energy performance certificate (EPC) of C.

The minimum allowed is currently an E energy rating and a large number of homes in Slough will need to be improved to meet these requirements.

Chalvey and Herschel Park are the wards with the highest hazard rates in Slough.

Councillor Dexter Smith (Con, Colnbrook and Poyle) said Herschel Park is an area with ‘older character’ properties.

Cllr Smith said: “We run into issues sometimes with those older properties of them being listed [buildings] and it’s very difficult for listed properties to be altered.”

He asked if the council’s approach is ‘flexible enough’ when it comes to planning to deal with issues like energy efficiency.

Simon Beasley, the council’s housing regulation manager, said that some homes apply for exemptions if the work needed to be carried out will cost more than £10,000 or if the building is listed.

Mr Beasley said: “We would still be asking the landlord to do works to get it to the highest standard they can do within that £10,000 cap or within the planning regime, so for example installing a more efficient boiler.”

When it comes to mould and damp, Cllr Smith recognised the Thames Valley is ‘particularly susceptible’ to it, but he asked if recent grants from the Government to tackle this issue are helping.

Mr Beasley said it’s ‘too early to say’ because mould and damp are a complicated issue, either to do with the structure of the building or with a tenant’s lifestyle.