The Council’s budget pays for day-to-day services such as waste and recycling, planning, transport, highways, street cleaning, parks, playgrounds, libraries, environmental health, children’s services and adult social care. The Council has set a budget of £425 million for 2020/21 and just under a quarter is funded by Council Tax.
recycled re-used or composted 18,500 tonnes of household waste
built 57 new council homes
maintained 5,770 council properties
run 7 libraries with 486,832 items borrowed
maintained 404km of roads, 70 parks and gardens, 18,500 streetlights, 800km of pavements and fixed 3,863 potholes
provided 33,410 homecare hours per week for vulnerable adults
put on 513 productions in our theatres
given 167 tours of the Abbey Ruins
welcomed 165,6954 visitors to the town hall and museum
Investing in Reading
Over the next three years we’re investing in the areas you’ve told us matter most to you.
We’re investing £9m to repair more roads, potholes and pavements
We’re investing an extra £250,000 to clean up the town centre, £145,000 to tackle issues like fly tipping and £150,000 to plant new trees
We’re investing more than £40m to modernise Reading’s leisure facilities, and building two new swimming pools
We’re investing £1.5m to increase recycling rates and introduce weekly food waste collections, £250,000 in electric vehicle charging points and £7m in initiatives to tackle climate change such as renewable energy infrastructure
We’re investing £12.3m towards a new station at Green Park and £3.4m to refurbish Reading West Station, and inviting your input into our new transport strategy
We’re investing £7m to improve adult social care services and £3.2m for Disabled Facilities Grants
We’re investing £1m extra in children’s services and building a brand new secondary school at Riverside
We’re making £19.5m of savings by doing things more efficiently, without cutting front line services and investing £2.5m to improve our website and access to services online so we can serve you better
Police and fire rescue
Your Council Tax also helps to pay for services delivered by Thames Valley Police and the Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue service.