Council Plan- 2025 to 2028
- Welcome from the Leader
- Our achievements
- Your services
- Our vision and priorities
- Our principles and values
- Promote more equal communities in Reading
- Secure Reading’s economic and cultural success
- Deliver a sustainable and healthy environment and reduce Reading’s carbon footprint
- Safeguard and support the health and wellbeing of Reading’s adults and children
- Ensure Reading Borough Council is fit for the future
- Our budget
- Annexe: Key Performance Indicators
Welcome from the Leader
Reading is a great place to live, work and visit. You do not have to take my word for it, as there are many studies and surveys that tell us that it is.
As Leader, I know that the Council continuing to play its part in keeping it that way has become very challenging in the face of shocks such as Covid, the cost of living crisis, and the reduction in funding for public services over the years.
The new Government has made clear its strong desire to strengthen and empower local councils and the communities they serve,
and to place them on a more sustainable financial footing. It is vital that Reading Council embraces this opportunity and ensures Reading’s continued success, doing all it can to make sure everyone can benefit.
The government’s aims for strategic regional planning and simplifying local government structures, as set out in the English Devolution White Paper, bring both uncertainty and opportunity. However, we must not lose sight of the Council’s key purpose, which is to deliver services for residents in the face of significant financial challenges, and to build on the huge investments we have made in recent years to leisure and cultural facilities, homes, and care provision across the town.
Looking forward, we continue to be unapologetically ambitious for Reading. As set out in this Plan, over the next three years we will deliver over 300 new council homes, a new Central Library, ambitious investments to reduce the Council’s carbon emissions, three new children’s homes, and four new adult social care facilities, as well as completing our £8 million programme to improve roads and pavements.
We continue to deliver essential services that so many older residents and vulnerable adults rely on. We have invested in improved services for our tenants, with more ways to manage repairs and rent through our website, at times that are most convenient to them.
My sincere thanks go to Council staff and Councillors for their unquestionable commitment to Reading.
Our continued commitment to residents drives this new Council Plan. The very real challenge of ensuring it remains deliverable against
ever limited budgets and resources in no way diminishes our ambitions for Reading. We know rising demand for essential statutory services means we will need to think creatively to deliver on our priorities, and our track record shows we can and will do that.
Whatever changes the future brings, we know that Reading’s place as an economic and cultural centre will remain. We will continue
to grow our economy, working to bring new investment and businesses into our town so that our goal of ensuring everyone who lives and works here can share the benefits of this success is achieved. That has been the vision for this Council for some years and will continue to be the focus through this new plan.
Our achievements
We are proud of the achievements and investments we have delivered in
2024 and will continue to build on these successes. In the last year we have:
Opened 4 new and improved playgrounds at Westfield Road Recreations Ground, Waterloo Meadows, Rivermead and Victoria Park.
89% of schools in Reading have received strong Ofsted inspection outcomes and the council’s adult and community learning service, New Directions College, was rated ‘Good’ by Ofsted.
Developed the new Community Wellness Outreach Service, alongside Health and Voluntary Sector colleagues, to carry out 4,878 health checks.
Built 224 affordable new homes, including new homes for key workers.
Commenced the construction of our exciting new Central Library.
Opened a new 25-metre competition swimming pool and teaching and diving pool at Rivermead Leisure Centre.
Supported the Business Improvement District in securing a £7.5m investment over 5 years to support the town centre, in addition to council services.
Refurbished Reading Station subway and High Bridge (a designated scheduled monument) on London Street/Duke Street.
Increased the number of school places for children with special educational needs and disabilities in Reading from 564 to 940.
Received 4,226 referrals into Adult Social Care – and through effective work to promote independence only 11% needed to access long term care and support.
Delivered 752 carer assessments and supported 2,520 people to live more independently by providing essential equipment and technology enabled care.
Filled in 1,664 potholes.
Added 13 new electric vehicles to Reading’s refuse fleet, meaning refuse and recycling collections are now up to 92% electric.
Delivered a 30% reduction in energy consumption since 2019/20 and decarbonised energy sources at our leisure centres.
Successfully implemented a voice automation option in our call centre, enabling residents to report issues such as a missed bin without having to wait to speak to someone.
Residents’ Survey Results 2024
In 2024 we conducted a survey with a representative sample of 1,000 Reading residents about satisfaction with the Council and the services we provide. Key findings were:
- 60% were ‘very’ or ‘fairly’ satisfied with the way Reading Borough Council runs things overall (compared to 55% nationally)
- 46% agreed that Reading Borough Council provides value for money (compared to 38% nationally)
- 54% agreed that Reading Borough Council acts on the concerns of local residents (compared to 47% nationally)
Your services
Your council is proud to deliver a wide range of services for our town, including:
Helping those who are older or living with disability, or physical or mental illness, to maintain their independence and well- being. This includes residential and nursing care, supported living, care at home, and preventative services. In 2024 we received 4,226 referrals for a service and provided support to 1,774 residents last year. This included 181 new admissions to nursing or residential care.
Ensuring enough school places exist to meet the needs of our growing population, including providing a new secondary school in 2024.
Supporting 1,999 children and young people (aged 0-25) with special educational needs and disabilities with an Education, Health, and Care Plan (EHCP).
Providing fantastic culture and leisure opportunities, including loaning out 475,545 books last year through our libraries and receiving 1,101,515 visits to our leisure centres.
Working with children and families who need support and protecting vulnerable children from harm. Across the year we delivered services to 1,874 children through our early years and youth work. Our children’s social care teams work with 3,185 children and undertook over 1,100 child protection enquiries last year resulting in 519 children being placed on a protection plan. We have 283 children in our care, mostly in fostering placements.
Providing Town Centre Services to make it cleaner and safer for residents and visitors, working closely with the Police and the Business Improvement District.
Managing traffic, parking and public transport services across the town and delivering improvements to roads, cycling, and walking infrastructure.
Maintaining 55 parks and open spaces and 58 play facilities for Reading’s children – mowing the grass, tending plants and trees, maintaining play equipment, protecting our nature reserves, and maximising rewilding and biodiversity in our parks.
Working with key stakeholders through the Water Safety Partnership to make safety improvements to our waterways.
Looking after streets and neighbourhoods, emptying 6.75m bins a year and maintaining 18,500 streetlights and illuminated signs.
Processing over 57,000 tonnes of household waste a year, including 9,700k tonnes of kerbside mixed dry recycling, 6,200 tonnes of garden waste and 6,600 tonnes of food waste.
Providing nearly 7,000 affordable, good quality Council-owned homes to tenants and providing housing advice and support to prevent and relieve homelessness to over 623 households in 2024.
Providing high quality education and training for nearly 1,810 adults a year across 387 courses through New Directions College.
Providing a Public Health and well-being service to help prevent and reduce health inequalities, delivering a range of public health services, including sexual health services and services aimed at reducing drug and alcohol misuse.
Processing over 800 planning applications a year, including major developments.
Co-ordinating and influencing the delivery of strategic infrastructure to meet Reading’s needs and accommodate its growth.
Supporting 2,111 families to say goodbye to loved ones through our burials and cremation service and presenting c.2,200 people with their new British Citizenship certificates.
Providing Housing Benefit and Council Tax support and delivering a broad range of advice and support for residents and businesses experiencing financial difficulties, in conjunction with our voluntary and community sector partners.
Managing important internal functions, including the Council’s finances, legal processes, and contracts with suppliers, ensuring that the Council as an organisation runs efficiently and effectively.
Providing electoral registration services, registering 20,855 people to vote.
Responding to 457,000 enquiries a year through our Customer Fulfilment Centre, from Council Tax enquiries to housing repairs.
Administering important life events with around 9,200 registrations for births, deaths, and marriages every year.
Our vision and priorities
Our vision is to help Reading realise its potential and to ensure that everyone who lives and works here can share the benefits of its success.
To deliver this vision we are focusing on the following five priorities over the next three years:
- Promote more equal communities in Reading
- Secure Reading’s economic and cultural success
- Deliver a sustainable and healthy environment and reduce Reading’s carbon footprint
- Safeguard and support the health and wellbeing of Reading’s adults and children
- Ensure Reading Borough Council is fit for the future
Our principles and values
In delivering the priorities set out in this Council Plan, we will be guided by the
following set of principles:
Putting residents first
Being accessible, responsive, and working in the interests of Reading residents.
Building on strong foundations
Delivering the core services that create a safer, cleaner, greener Reading, so the town can grow towards an exciting future.
Recognising, respecting, and nurturing all our diverse communities
Recognising Reading’s diversity and rich culture as one of our greatest strengths, we will work with all of Reading’s communities across all the Council’s services.
Involving, collaborating, and empowering residents
Working closely with residents, businesses, and local groups to collectively achieve great outcomes for Reading.
Being proudly ambitious for Reading
Taking pride in Reading’s heritage, history, active community, and achievements, and using them to bring people together.
Within the council, we are driven by the principles of TEAM Reading:
Work Together as one team:
We work together as one inclusive team with colleagues and partners to deliver great services.
Drive Efficiency:
We drive efficiency and value for money in everything we do.
Be Ambitious:
We are ambitious in our plans and in what we want to achieve.
Make a Difference to Reading:
We are here to make a positive difference to all residents, our diverse communities and the businesses of Reading.
Promote more equal communities in Reading
Reading is a successful and prosperous town, yet also contains some of the most deprived areas in the country. Life expectancy in the poorest parts of Reading is nearly 8 years lower than in the most affluent areas. There remains a stubborn and significant gap in educational attainment between disadvantaged children and their peers. We want to do more to work with Thames Valley Police and other partners to tackle issues such as crime and antisocial behaviour which remain persistent in some parts of our town.
We want Reading to be a place where inequality within our communities is reduced – whether that be differences in health, access to economic opportunities, or the educational attainment of our children. We will work with partners to ensure that services and support are available to those residents that need them, and that everyone shares in Reading’s success.
We will:
- Promote best practice across Reading’s schools, helping to improve educational attainment and narrow the gap for disadvantaged and vulnerable children.
- Reduce inequalities in health and life expectancy through our Public Health service.
- Tackle social and economic inequalities in partnership with the voluntary and community sector.
- Reduce crime and antisocial behaviour, working with Thames Valley Police and other partners.
- Work with partners to prevent homelessness.
Objectives and projects
| Objective | Project |
|---|---|
| Promote best practice across Reading’s schools, helping to improve educational attainment and narrow the gap for disadvantaged and vulnerable children. | Deliver the Education Strategy to reduce education inequality and increase school attendance and attainment for those groups who experience the most disadvantage. |
| Reduce inequalities in health and life expectancy through our Public Health service. | Deliver support to help people stop smoking, particularly those working in professions with higher rates of smoking. |
| Develop approaches to ensure that health and wellbeing is considered across all policy areas. | |
| Tackle social and economic inequalities in partnership with the voluntary and community sector. | Deliver the voluntary and community sector compact action plan, including small grants funding. |
| Develop and deliver our place-based approach to enhance access to education, skills, and training. | |
| Provide advice and guidance to residents regarding the cost of living and direct financial support through the Household Support Fund. | |
| Reduce crime and antisocial behaviour, working with Thames Valley Police and other partners. | Support the Community Safety Partnership and facilitate Safer Neighbourhood Forums to reduce crime and anti- social behaviour. |
| Support plans to tackle knife crime, domestic abuse and violence against women and girls. | |
| Work with partners to prevent homelessness. | Continue work to prevent and reduce homelessness. |
Secure Reading’s economic and cultural success
Reading has the potential to be a national economic powerhouse. It is already the principal economic centre of the Thames Valley, a major retail and leisure destination, and a key transport interchange with access to one of the strongest employment markets in Europe. We want to build on the success of the town and ensure that everyone in Reading shares in that success.
Over the coming years there will be significant opportunities to secure additional powers over areas like economic development by working across Berkshire and the wider Thames Valley area through a new Strategic Authority. We believe this is a great opportunity for our town and we will engage constructively with the government to secure devolution that benefits Reading.
In our 2024 Residents’ Survey, access to affordable and decent housing was identified as a major issue, particularly among young people. House prices in Reading are now 9.5 times average household incomes, making home ownership unattainable for many people. We will ensure that high-quality and affordable new homes continue to be built in Reading, including over 300 new Council homes, along with the infrastructure to support new development.
Vibrant cultural offerings and our town’s heritage are integral to the town’s success in uniting our communities and encouraging people to visit, live, and work in Reading. We will build on these strengths by delivering exciting new developments like the new Central Library and Studio Theatre at the Hexagon.
We will:
- Deliver new energy efficient council homes and improve tenant satisfaction with social housing.
- Enable the delivery of an average of 825 high-quality new homes a year in Reading, including affordable homes, along with the infrastructure to support new development.
- Promote the economic success of Reading by working with Councils across Berkshire and the wider Thames Valley.
- Maximise the benefits available for Reading from opportunities from the Government’s plans to devolve power and funding to local areas.
- Continue to deliver quality cultural and leisure services and facilitate exciting improvements to our cultural offer through grant-funded projects.
Objectives and projects
| Objective | Project |
|---|---|
| Deliver new energy efficient council homes and improve tenant satisfaction with social housing. | Through the Local Authority New Build programme, deliver 362 new homes at Dee Park and other sites by December 2028. |
| Complete the acquisition of Homes for Reading housing stock into the Council by the end of 2026 and re-let the homes to households on the Council’s Housing Register. | |
| Increase the number and timeliness of repairs delivered by our Housing Repairs & Property Services teams. | |
| Enable the delivery of an average of 825 high-quality new homes a year in Reading, including affordable homes, along with the infrastructure to support new development. | Progress an updated Local Plan towards adoption to provide a framework to guide decision making on the planning applications for homes and infrastructure. |
| Introduce the Additional Licensing Scheme in the private rented sector to improve housing conditions for tenants. | |
| Promote the economic success of Reading by working with Councils across Berkshire and the wider Thames Valley. | In partnership with other Berkshire councils, facilitate the Connect to Work programme to support residents with long term health conditions into work. |
| Maximise the benefits available for Reading from opportunities from the Government’s plans to devolve power and funding to local areas. | Work in partnership to secure devolution for Reading and the wider area through a new Mayoral Strategic Authority. |
| Continue to deliver quality cultural and leisure services and facilitate exciting improvements to our cultural offer through grant-funded projects. | Deliver a new Civic Centre, including a new Central Library and improved Registrars and Customer provision. |
| Improve the technology offer and access to library services funded through the Libraries Investment Fund. |
Deliver a sustainable and healthy environment and reduce Reading’s carbon footprint
Reading’s economic success is driving significant development and population growth. By 2041 the number of households in central Reading is forecast to increase by 161% – an increase of nearly 9,000. This increase in density and population will require a major shift in infrastructure and presents a huge opportunity to reshape the physical infrastructure of our town for the better.
At the same time, we are already beginning to see the effects of climate change – Earth reached its warmest year on record in 2024. This serves as a reminder of the urgency of continuing to reduce carbon emissions so that we reach net zero emissions as soon as possible, as well as taking steps to adapt to a changing climate.
Our vision for the future is a town where it is quick and easy to get around by public transport, walking, or cycling. By designing our infrastructure and public spaces around pedestrians, we can build spaces that are easy to get around, greener and more attractive, with lower levels of air pollution.
We will:
- Deliver improvements to public transport, cycling and walking infrastructure in Reading.
- Keep Reading moving by delivering investment in highways, including roads, bridges, streetlighting and traffic signals.
- Further improve the physical environment of Reading by improving air quality, access to green space, and the quality of public spaces.
- Continue moving towards a net zero, resilient Reading and Council by 2030.
- Deliver major improvements to our waste and recycling service to ensure compliance with new legislation.
Objectives and projects
| Objective | Project |
|---|---|
| Deliver improvements to public transport, cycling, and walking infrastructure in Reading. | Deliver the Bus Service Improvement Plan to improve the reliability of bus services by increasing bus priority. |
| Deliver funded active travel schemes to encourage more walking and cycling. | |
| Keep Reading moving by delivering investment in highways, including roads, bridges, streetlighting and traffic signals. | Complete the £8 million programme of work to improve residential roads and pavements. |
| Further improve the physical environment of Reading by improving air quality, access to green space, and the quality of public spaces. | Adopt the Town Centre Public Realm Strategy to secure funding and improvements to Reading’s streets and open spaces. |
| Continue moving towards a net zero, resilient Reading and Council by 2030. | Develop electric vehicle charging infrastructure, including charging points, to move away from fossil-fuelled vehicles. |
| Reduce carbon emissions from our buildings, operations, and fleet, including investing in solar panels, energy efficiency in our buildings, and electric vehicles. | |
| Work with partners to deliver the Climate Strategy for 2025 to 2030 to achieve a net zero Reading resilient to climate change. | |
| Dispose of property and land that no longer contribute towards the Council’s objectives to invest in assets and service transformation. | |
| Deliver major improvements to our waste and recycling service to ensure compliance with new legislation. | Introduce changes to the waste collection service in line with the ‘Simpler Recycling’ legislation. |
Safeguard and support the health and wellbeing of Reading’s adults and children
In line with the national average, 70% of our net spending on day-to-day services is on adult and children’s social care. These services are at the core of what councils do – protecting and supporting some of the most vulnerable members of our society.
We will continue to ensure that those who are older or living with disability or illness are supported to live independently, support children with special educational needs and disabilities, and ensure that Reading’s children are protected.
However, the unprecedented levels of demand for these services, along with increasing costs, presents a major challenge for the Council. Our priority for the next three years is to put in place a range of measures to reduce demand and cost, while delivering better outcomes for Reading’s children and adults. This includes major investments in three new children’s homes and four adult social care facilities in Reading.
We will:
- Prevent the escalation of children’s needs and reduce the number of children in care through improving our early help offer.
- Reduce the number of children in residential care and reliance on private providers by recruiting more foster carers and opening new children’s homes in Reading.
- Improve our local special educational needs and disabilities offer and support education settings to develop inclusive practice, so children receive high quality education locally, and achieve their potential.
- Support those who need social care services to live as independently as possible in their homes with improved wellbeing.
- Improve our offer for unpaid carers, ensuring they are supported to live well and can sustain their caring role.
- Work with our partners in health and the voluntary sector to provide support solutions for adults with complex health and social care needs to improve outcomes.
Objectives and projects
| Objective | Project |
|---|---|
| Prevent the escalation of children’s needs and reduce the number of children in care through improving our early help offer. | Deliver Family Hubs to bring together a range of support services in one place, reducing escalation of need and the number of children entering care. |
| Redesign and commission an integrated 0-19 child health programme. | |
| Reduce the number of children in residential care and reliance on private providers by recruiting more foster carers and opening new children’s homes in Reading. | Increase the number of Brighter Futures for Children/Council foster carers to increase the proportion of children in care living locally and with our own carers. |
| Deliver an in-house assessment home and children’s homes in Reading to ensure that children in residential care remain living in Reading wherever possible. | |
| Improve our local special educational needs and disabilities offer and support education settings to develop inclusive practice, so children receive high quality education locally, and achieve their potential. | Enable more children with special educational needs and disabilities to be educated in mainstream schools and deliver new special school places. |
| Promote independent and active travel to school for children with special educational needs and disabilities. | |
| Support those who need social care services to live as independently as possible in their homes with improved wellbeing | Implement technology systems to support people to live independently at home. |
| Deliver four new adult social care services to support people with complex needs, replacing existing buildings that are no longer fit for purpose. | |
| Support children into adulthood, promoting greater independence and confidence. | |
| Improve our offer for unpaid carers, ensuring they are supported to live well and can sustain their caring role. | Implement our improved carers offer, including employing a dedicated carers lead and delivering carers’ breaks. |
| Work with our partners in health and the voluntary sector to provide support solutions for adults with complex health and social care needs to improve outcomes. | Improve the process of discharge from hospital to prevent patients being readmitted. |
| Refresh the existing Home Care and Supported Living Framework to ensure sufficient supply. |
Ensure Reading Borough Council is fit for the future
Everything we deliver for the people of Reading depends on ensuring the Council is a modern and effective organisation that is financially stable, with technology that works, and the right workforce in place to deliver services.
Over the past eight years, the Council has transformed its services and operations, investing in new technology, corporate capability (including HR, procurement, finance, and ICT), and driving savings through different ways of working.
We are proud of the work we do for the people of Reading, and we will continue to strive to deliver better quality services through our ongoing commitment to delivering value for money in everything we do.
We will:
- Deliver good, accessible services for our customers.
- Invest in technology that is secure and helps deliver effective services.
- Use procurement of goods and services to secure greater social value and spend locally.
- Secure best value from all Council spending.
- Be a fair employer with an attractive and competitive offer and a workforce that is
representative of the local community.
Objectives and projects
| Objective | Project |
|---|---|
| Deliver good, accessible services for our customers. | Continue to develop our new IT systems in customer services and housing repairs to enable residents to resolve queries at a time that suits them. |
| Review the content of our website to ensure it is accessible and to drive customer self-service. | |
| Ensure continued good services for children by bringing Brighter Futures for Children (children’s services) back into the Council. | |
| Implement an improved telephone system that routes customers effectively and improves the customer data we collect to help continually improve how we support residents. | |
| Deliver and embed our social care customer front door through enhancing our systems and working with the voluntary sector in providing support. | |
| Deliver additional cemetery space in order to continue offering a burial service to all residents. | |
| Invest in technology that is secure and helps deliver effective services (the projects against this objective are subject to funding being agreed). | Introduce remote technology for staff who work outside of the office to improve efficiency. |
| Introduce artificial intelligence to improve customer service and reduce administration costs in line with our strategy. | |
| Use procurement of goods and services to secure greater social value and spend locally. | Deliver the new Social Value Policy with our partners to increase the number of contracts delivering spend and social value in the local area. |
| Secure best value from all Council spending. | Deliver our three-year Medium Term Financial Strategy and the financial savings within to ensure that the Council lives within its means. |
| Be a fair employer with an attractive and competitive offer and a workforce that is representative of the local community. | Ensure recruitment and selection processes support the Council’s move towards ensuring the workforce represents the demographics of the Borough. |
| Continue to develop talent within the Council, including through our apprentice and work experience programmes. |
Our budget
Day to day spending
Our net budget for day-to-day services (‘revenue’) for 2025/26 is £178.1 million. This figure includes income from ring-fenced government grants and service users (in the form of fees and charges). This net budget is funded by council tax (71%), business rates (27%), and non-ring-fenced central government grants (2%).
Every £100 we spend on day to day services is split as follows:
Spending on social housing is managed within a separate ring-fenced budget called the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) and is funded through rents from Council housing tenants.
1 Support Services include services such as legal, finance, HR, ICT and procurement.
Capital spending
Capital spending is the expenditure incurred to make improvements to the Council’s assets or for the purchase or creation of new assets. Capital spending is funded by grants, contributions from developers, capital receipts (the sale of capital assets), revenue, and prudential borrowing.
Our planned General Fund capital expenditure for 2025/26-2027/28 is £127.5 million, of which £50.7 million is funded from prudential borrowing.
Highlights of the Capital Programme 2024/25 – 2028/29 are:
£16.6m
New performance space and decarbonisation works at Hexagon Theatre
£24.1m
Investment in education schemes including school buildings
£9.0m
Adult social care facilities to support people with complex needs
£11.7m
Highways infrastructure programme
£7.2m
New Reading Library and Civic reception, including decarbonisation
£14m
Bus service improvement plan
£3.1m
Active Travel tranches 2 and 3 – Shinfield Road and Bath Road/Castle Hill
£2m
Children’s homes
Capital spending on new social housing or improvements to the Council’s existing housing stock is funded separately by the HRA. The planned capital expenditure for 2025/26-2027/28 is
£138.9 million, of which £70.4m is funded from prudential borrowing by the HRA. This planned expenditure includes £57.3 million on new build and acquisitions, £47.8 million on major repairs (including zero carbon retrofit works) to existing stock and £31.8m to purchase homes from Homes for Reading.
Annexe: Key Performance Indicators
Promote more equal communities in Reading
| Measure | Result 23/24 | Target 24/25 | Target 25/26 | Target 26/27 | Target 27/28 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Key Stage 2 gap in percentage of advantaged and disadvantaged pupils who achieve the expected level of attainment in reading, writing, and maths (%) | 25% | 23% | 22% | 22% | 22% |
| Key Stage 4 gap in overall Attainment 8 score between advantaged and disadvantaged pupils (Attainment 8 score) | 23.6 | 19.9 | 18 | 16 | 15 |
| Residents quitting smoking (No. as measured four weeks after quitting) | 450 | 518 | 618 | 916 | 1,016 |
Secure Reading’s economic and cultural success
| Measure | Result 23/24 | Target 24/25 | Target 25/26 | Target 26/27 | Target 27/28 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Council homes delivered (including acquisitions) (No.) | 57 | 11 | 73 | 89 | 83 |
| Housing repairs (urgent) completed within 2 working days (%) | 72% | 90% | 90% | 90% | 90% |
| Physical visits to libraries (No.) | 276,000 | 270,000 | 220,000 | 350,000 | 420,000 |
| Planning application decisions for major development made within timescales (% of total) | 100% | 60% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
| Participation at our theatres and museums (No.) | 362,664 | 350,000 | 325,000 | 335,000 | 380,000 |
Deliver a sustainable and healthy environment and reduce our carbon footprint
| Measure | Result 23/24 | Target 24/25 | Target 25/26 | Target 26/27 | Target 27/28 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Missed bins (No. per 100,000 collections) | 93.39 | 80 | 80 | 80 | 80 |
| Household waste recycled or composted (% of total) | 49.8% | 51% | 51% | 51% | 51% |
| Corporate carbon emissions (tonnes CO2) | 5,149 | 3,977 | 2,983 | TBC | TBC |
| Air quality (micrograms per meter cubed of nitrogen dioxide µg/m3) | 26 | 26 | 25 | 24 | 23 |
| Residential roads in good condition (not requiring further investigation or work) (% total) | 80% | 80% | 80% | 80% | 80% |
| Trips to/from the town centre made by walking or cycling (% of total trips) | 34% | 34.4% | 34.7% | 35.1% | 35.4% |
| Trips to/from the town centre made by public transport (% of total trips) | 42% | 42.5% | 43% | 43.5% | 44% |
| Trips taken to/from Reading using Park and Ride (No.) | 135,000 | 150,000 | 175,000 | 200,000 | 225,000 |
| Trips taken by bus (individual bus trips starting in the Borough, millions) | 19.5 | 19.0 | 19.7 | 20.4 | 21.2 |
| New trees planted on Council owned land (No.) | 332 | 300 | 300 | 300 | 300 |
Safeguard and support the health and wellbeing of Reading’s adults and children
| Measure | Result 23/24 | Target 24/25 | Target 25/26 | Target 26/27 | Target 27/28 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Children in care living more than 20 miles from Reading (% of total) | 32% | 24% | 25% | 23% | 21% |
| Children placed in external children’s homes (No.) | 18 | 381 | 30 | 25 | 25 |
| Children looked after (No.) | 266 | 280 | 275 | 270 | 263 |
| School places for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (cumulative total) | 564 | 940 | 1,065 | 1,184 | 1,184 |
| Older People (65+) who were still at home 91 days after discharge from hospital into reablement (%) | 88% | 87% | 87% | 88% | 88% |
| New contacts to the Advice and Wellbeing Hub resulting in a successful outcome and not requiring an ongoing service (%) | 88% | 84% | 87% | 90% | 90% |
| Children with an Education, Health, and Care Plan (EHCP) with a plan at age 14 for transition into adulthood at age 14 (% of total) | New | 50% | 60% | 70% | 80% |
Ensure Reading Borough Council is fit for the future
| Measure | Result 23/24 | Target 24/25 | Target 25/26 | Target 26/27 | Target 27/28 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Contracts over £125,000 achieving Social Value (% of total) | New | New | 55% | 60% | 65% |
| Customer satisfaction with the outcome of contact with the customer fulfilment centre (% ‘satisfied’ or ‘partially satisfied’) | 86.9% | 90% | 90% | 90% | 90% |
| Resident contacts handled through self-service channels (% of total) | New | New | 50% | 60% | 70% |
| Employees in Council’s workforce that are of Global Majority background (% of total workforce) | 18.5% | 20% | 22% | 23% | 24% |
| Senior managers in the Council’s workforce of Global Majority background (% Assistant Director or above) (This is a 3-year target due to being dependent on turnover of staff and the small numbers involved) | 27.8% | N/A | N/A | N/A | 32% |
Last updated on 12/11/2025
Council Plan- 2025 to 2028