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Reading: what’s happening where you live

What the council itself has published on the five things it most shapes for a household: homes, getting about, the bill, the local environment and schools. Each line is quoted from the council’s own document, with the link. This page says what was decided or proposed; it never says whether it was right.

This page is built from official registers only; the council’s own publications have not been read yet, and every line below says so where that leaves a gap.

Reading Borough Council: Unitary authority (unitary), England, South East. GOV.UK lists it as a unitary council. ONS code E06000038.

Council website

Do it online

The council’s own service pages as listed by GOV.UK’s Local Links Manager (Open Government Licence), refreshed weekly; the same list of everyday services, in the same order, for every council, in GOV.UK’s wording.

Housing

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Transport

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Council tax

Band D set by Reading for 2026–27: £2,223.18 of a £2,612.77 total bill in the area. MHCLG, Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2026 to 2027 (Open Government Licence).

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Environment

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Education

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Changes to schools in this area recorded by the Department for Education Updated automatically

No school here is currently recorded as proposed to open or close.

In the last twelve months: 0 opened, 2 closed (2 closure)

Get Information about Schools, DfE’s register of every school in England, refreshed daily (Open Government Licence). The register’s own reason is shown: most closures and openings are a school becoming an academy, which changes who runs it, not whether it is there.

What the council plans to spend, 2026–27

The budget for each service, as Reading reported it to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. The same headings, in the same order, for every council in England.

Reading: budget by service, 2026 to 2027
ServiceBudget
Education services£165.0 million
Highways and transport services£4.6 million
Children's social care£66.6 million
Adult social care£76.5 million
Public health£13.7 million
Housing services (general fund only)£12.8 million
Cultural and related services£6.0 million
Environmental and regulatory services£20.9 million
Planning and development services£1.0 million
Police servicesnone budgeted
Fire and rescue servicesnone budgeted
Central services£10.6 million
Other services£2.4 million
Total service expenditure£380.0 million

Net current expenditure: net of sales, fees and charges; spending funded by the NHS, such as through the Better Care Fund, is excluded.A minus figure means the service’s income is budgeted to be more than its spending. “None budgeted” usually means another body runs that service here. Source: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Revenue Account Budget 2026 to 2027, individual local authority data (part 1), updated 11 June 2026 (Open Government Licence).

Life in Reading: the official facts

Facts about the people who live here: their pay, homes, health and more, from official statistics. They describe the place, not you, and every council gets the same list. Each shows when it was measured.

Show the figures for:

Showing: Reading.

People living here
183,762 people 30 June 2025 · Office for National StatisticsAn official estimate of everyone who lives in the area, in the middle of the year.
Typical age
35 years 30 June 2025 · Office for National StatisticsHalf the people who live here are younger than this and half are older.
Money to live on, per person, per year
£25,812 2024 · Office for National StatisticsAverage household income per person after taxes, with benefits added: what people have to spend or save.
Typical weekly pay, before tax
£666 30 April 2025 · Office for National StatisticsFor employees who live here: half earn more than this each week, half earn less.
Children growing up in poverty
24.9% April 2024 to March 2025 · Department for Work and PensionsThe share of children under 16 in families on low incomes once housing costs are paid.
People claiming unemployment-related benefits
4.3% 2025 · Office for National StatisticsThe share of people aged 16 to 64 claiming Jobseeker's Allowance or Universal Credit while looking for work.
Average price of a home
£350,501 August 2026 · HM Land RegistryThe average price of a home here in the month shown.
How many years of pay a home costs
8.6 times yearly pay 1 April 2025 · Office for National StatisticsA typical home's price divided by the typical yearly pay of people who live here.
Years in good health: women
63.0 years 2022 to 2024 · Office for National StatisticsHow many years a girl born here can expect to live in good health, at current rates.
Years in good health: men
61.7 years 2022 to 2024 · Office for National StatisticsHow many years a boy born here can expect to live in good health, at current rates.
Greenhouse gases, per person
3.3 tonnes per person 2024 · Department for Energy Security and Net ZeroEmissions from the area in a year, shared out per resident, in tonnes of carbon dioxide or its equivalent.
Homes and businesses that can get the fastest broadband
96.4% 1 January 2026 · OfcomThe share of addresses that can get gigabit broadband (1,000 Mbps).
Public chargers for electric cars
189.2 per 100,000 people 1 July 2026 · Department for Transport, sourced from ZapmapPublic charging points at all speeds, for every 100,000 people.
Businesses trading here
7,360 businesses 2024 · Office for National StatisticsBusinesses with sales or staff in the year.

More figures for Reading from the ONS

Gathered by the Office for National Statistics in Explore Local Statistics (Open Government Licence), refreshed daily. Some figures aren’t published for every nation, so the list can be shorter outside England.

Who runs the council

48 seats in 2026. Run by: Labour, with a majority. Open Council Data (public domain).

Councillors by party: Labour Party 29, Green Party (E&W) 11, Conservative and Unionist 5, Liberal Democrats 3.

Next scheduled council election: 6 May 2027.

Elections here now: Caversham Heights ward (26 November 2026).

All 48 councillors, by ward
  • David Stevens (Labour Party) — Abbey
  • Jacqueline Dominguez (Green Party (E&W)) — Abbey
  • Mohammed Ayub (Labour Party) — Abbey
  • Amjad Tarar (Labour Party) — Battle
  • Pratikshya Gurung (Labour Party) — Battle
  • Wendy Griffith (Labour Party) — Battle
  • Jacopo Lanzoni (Labour Party) — Caversham
  • Jan Gavin (Labour Party) — Caversham
  • Matt Yeo (Labour Party) — Caversham
  • Isobel Ballsdon (Conservative and Unionist) — Caversham Heights
  • Jenny McGrother (Labour Party) — Caversham Heights
  • Saadia Saadat (Conservative and Unionist) — Caversham Heights
  • Andrew Hornsby-Smith (Labour Party) — Church
  • Paul Woodward (Labour Party) — Church
  • Ruth McEwan (Labour Party) — Church
  • Liz Terry (Labour Party) — Coley
  • Paul Gittings (Labour Party) — Coley
  • Richard Walkem (Green Party (E&W)) — Coley
  • Alex Smith (Conservative and Unionist) — Emmer Green
  • Daya Pal Singh (Labour Party) — Emmer Green
  • Stephen Goss (Conservative and Unionist) — Emmer Green
  • Doug Cresswell (Green Party (E&W)) — Katesgrove
  • Kaisa Nikulina (Green Party (E&W)) — Katesgrove
  • Louise Keane (Green Party (E&W)) — Katesgrove
  • Glenn Dennis (Labour Party) — Kentwood
  • Mark Keeping (Labour Party) — Kentwood
  • Raj Singh (Conservative and Unionist) — Kentwood
  • Alison Foster (Labour Party) — Norcot
  • Finn McGoldrick (Labour Party) — Norcot
  • Mamuna Naz (Labour Party) — Norcot
  • Josh Williams (Green Party (E&W)) — Park
  • Rob White (Green Party (E&W)) — Park
  • Sarah Magon (Green Party (E&W)) — Park
  • Dave McElroy (Green Party (E&W)) — Redlands
  • Kathryn McCann (Green Party (E&W)) — Redlands
  • Will Cross (Labour Party) — Redlands
  • Graeme Hoskin (Labour Party) — Southcote
  • John Ennis (Labour Party) — Southcote
  • Ulrike Magyarosy (Labour Party) — Southcote
  • Ama Asare (Labour Party) — Thames
  • David Clarke (Green Party (E&W)) — Thames
  • Richard Davies (Labour Party) — Thames
  • Anne Thompson (Liberal Democrats) — Tilehurst
  • James Moore (Liberal Democrats) — Tilehurst
  • Meri O'Connell (Liberal Democrats) — Tilehurst
  • Alice Mpofu-Coles (Labour Party) — Whitley
  • Micky Leng (Labour Party) — Whitley
  • Rachel Eden (Labour Party) — Whitley

Each councillor’s register of interests is on the council’s own website; we have not yet located the page. Councillors from Open Council Data as recorded after the May 2026 elections; a by-election since then may have changed one seat. Attendance and allowances are not shown.

This council’s meeting papers are not yet read automatically, so decisions and motions are not listed here; they are on the council’s website.

Write to your councillors → WriteToThem (mySociety) finds them from your postcode; nothing is sent through this site.

Cite this page

Harvard style. Every figure on the page also names its original source, which is usually the better thing to cite.

Every council page has the same five headings in the same order. Sources are the council’s own publications and official statistics. Council list: mySociety, UK Local Authorities (CC BY 4.0) and WhatDoTheyKnow authorities (CC BY-SA 4.0); council websites, tiers and service links: GOV.UK (Open Government Licence); codes: ONS Code History Database (Open Government Licence). Corrections: hello@whatsittome.org.