Cippenham School Street Plan: Objections by 16 October

Slough Borough Council wants to close Dennis Way and Plackett Way in Cippenham to most traffic at the start and end of the school day. It would be the borough’s third School Street.

The council published the proposed order on 25 September. Anyone who wants to object has three weeks from that date, which runs to Friday 16 October.

What the order would do

The proposal is the Borough of Slough (Prescribed Routes) (No. 20) Order 2026, known as Order 20 of 2026. The council’s notice and draft order set out the terms.

• Roads: Dennis Way and Plackett Way, each for its whole length.
• Days: Monday to Friday.
• Times: 8am to 9am, and 3pm to 4pm.
• Who can still drive in: people on pedal cycles, holders of a School Street permit, and police, ambulance and fire vehicles on an emergency.
• Enforcement: a breach counts as a contravention under the Traffic Management Act 2004, the civil enforcement regime the council uses for parking and moving traffic penalties.

The draft order says it comes into operation on the date its notice of making is first published. So there is no start date yet. That depends on what happens after the objection period.

Dennis Way runs along the southern edge of the grounds of Cippenham School, a primary with 998 pupils on the Department for Education’s register. The notice itself does not name the school.

The permit clause names a street in Wexham

This is the detail residents should look at before they reply.

The notice says anyone who lives or runs a business at an address in “Dennis Way and Moat Drive” would be entitled to apply for a permit. Moat Drive is not in Cippenham. It is in Wexham Court, about three miles east, and it is the road covered by Slough’s existing School Street for Wexham Court Primary.

Plackett Way is not named in the permit clause at all, even though it is one of the two roads being closed.

The draft order is worded differently. It defines an “authorised vehicle” as one belonging to someone whose home or business is on “a length of road specified in a Schedule to this Order”. The schedule lists Dennis Way and Plackett Way. On that reading, both streets would qualify. But the public notice is the document people are asked to respond to, and on this point it does not match the order.

If you live on Plackett Way, it is worth asking the council to confirm your eligibility in writing as part of any response.

How Slough’s other two School Streets work

The council’s School Streets pages list two schemes already running.

The council’s general guidance says closures apply on weekdays during term time only. The Order 20 notice itself says “Mondays to Fridays inclusive” and does not mention term time.

The same guidance also says residents cannot apply for a permit and that the council issues them. The new notice says residents would be “entitled to apply”. Both points are worth raising if they matter to you.

The council’s permits and exemptions page lists who can usually get through:

• residents living on the School Street, and carers visiting them
• business owners and customers
• Blue Badge holders
• emergency services, refuse collectors and Royal Mail
• utilities engineers on emergency repairs
• buses and school transport
• vehicles the school itself has arranged

Cars already parked inside the zone can leave during the closure but cannot come back in without a permit. Subcontractors in personal vans are not let in.

What it means for you

• If you live on Dennis Way or Plackett Way, you would need a permit to drive home between 8am and 9am, and between 3pm and 4pm, on weekdays. Check the permit wording above.
• If you drop children at school by car, expect to park further away and walk the last stretch. The council’s guidance says it watches for parking moving onto nearby streets during a trial.
• If you want to object or support it, write to Parking.Consultations@slough.gov.uk, or to Slough Borough Council, Observatory House, 25 Windsor Road, Slough SL1 2EL. Objections must be in writing and give your grounds. They must arrive by 16 October.

The proposed order, the notice and the council’s statement of reasons can also be inspected at the council’s offices during normal working hours.

This is the latest of several traffic changes proposed around Cippenham and the west of the borough. For the rest, including the A4 20mph works order, see our Slough roadworks page.