News

• Reading one of a number of Council's to have actively campaigned for more housing funding
• £39bn boost for housing over the next ten years announced
• Reading Borough Council aims to use extra funding to build on its affordable housing ambitions

• Dozens of Reading residents share their moments of joy as part of a local campaign for Mental Health Awareness month in May
• Reading Joy project extended for Loneliness Awareness Week last week 

• Eight new throw lines along Reading waterways
• Emergency information including location finders
• How to use the throw lines to help someone in trouble
• Do not enter the water and call 999

• On Friday 20 June - five years after the attacks - Reading will commemorate the innocent victims of Forbury Gardens at a Civic Memorial Service 
• Residents are invited to attend the service which begins at 7pm at the memorial stone in Forbury Gardens

• Duck couple and their eggs found in Civic Centre construction area
• The nest was protected and work around it temporarily paused
• All eggs successfully hatched

• The process of removing old pay & display machines and installing 96 new models around the town is under way
• The new solar-powered machines will accept contactless payment with bank cards and mobile payment apps as well as RingGo
• Cash payments will be available in locations where there has historically been high cash use

• 250th anniversary celebrations since Jane Austen’s birth
• Jane Austen’s former school room open for tours and talks

A NEW exhibition which tells the story of those who live, work, and play on the Thames is opening at the Royal Berkshire Archives on Wednesday 11 June and running until Friday 29 August.

• Motorists with the most polluting vehicles would pay more to park in Reading under proposals being discussed
• Scheme aims to encourage the use of low or no-emissions vehicles, or other alternatives, to help improve air quality and the health of residents
• Councillors will next week consider responses to an informal consultation 

• Proposed digital scheme will allow residents to book visitor parking online without the need for scratchcards
• Residents will be able to book visitor parking for a minimum of one hour at a time
• Review of parking permit scheme includes introduction of permits for motorcycles

• Reading is one of only 112 towns and cities worldwide to make this year’s Carbon Disclosure Project ‘A’ list
• One of 20 UK local authorities that achieved this top status in the ‘gold standard’ of environmental reporting

• An ambitious programme of public transport initiatives in Reading has helped make bus journeys more reliable, convenient, easier and cheaper
• Multi-operator Reading All-Bus ticket scheme to continue despite end of initial government funding
• Bus usage is heading towards pre-Covid levels following £26m Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) investment