Reading Borough Council Reading Borough Council is the local authority for the Borough of Reading in the English county of Berkshire. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. Berkshire is purely a ceremonia ...

is the council for the

unitary authority A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governmen ...

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...

in Berkshire,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Until 1 April 1998 it was a

non-metropolitan district Non-metropolitan districts, or colloquially "shire districts", are a type of Districts of England, local government district in England. As created, they are sub-divisions of non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties (colloquially ''shi ...

Political control

Since the first election to the council in 1973 political control of the council has been held by the following parties: Non-metropolitan district Unitary authority

Leadership

Political leadership is provided by the

leader of the council In England, local authorities are required to adopt one of three types of executive arrangements, having either an "elected mayor and cabinet", a "leader and cabinet", or a "committee system". The type of arrangement used determines how decisions ...

, with the role of mayor being largely ceremonial in Reading. After local government reorganisation in 1974, the leading political role was the chair of the policy committee, which was informally called the leader of the council. The role of leader of the council was made a formal position following the

Local Government Act 2000 The Local Government Act 2000 (c.22) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales. Its principal purposes are: * to give powers to local authorities to promote economic, social and envir ...

. The leaders of Reading Borough Council since 1974 have been:

Council elections

Non-metropolitan district elections

Unitary authority elections

* 1997 Reading Borough Council election * 1999 Reading Borough Council election * 2000 Reading Borough Council election * 2001 Reading Borough Council election * 2002 Reading Borough Council election * 2003 Reading Borough Council election * 2004 Reading Borough Council election (New ward boundaries) * 2006 Reading Borough Council election * 2007 Reading Borough Council election * 2008 Reading Borough Council election * 2010 Reading Borough Council election *

2011 Reading Borough Council election Elections to Reading Borough Council took place on Thursday 5 May 2011. There were 15 seats up for election, one third of the council. The election meant that the council continued to have no overall control but a Labour led minority administr ...

* 2012 Reading Borough Council election *

2014 Reading Borough Council election Elections to Reading Borough Council took place on 22 May 2014, with 15 council seats up for election. The Labour Party repeated their wins of 2012 gaining Church, Katesgrove, Redlands, Kentwood and Caversham wards, giving them a total of 31 ...

* 2015 Reading Borough Council election * 2016 Reading Borough Council election * 2018 Reading Borough Council election * 2019 Reading Borough Council election * 2021 Reading Borough Council election * 2022 Reading Borough Council election

Borough result maps

File:Reading_Borough_Council_2010_Electoral_Make-up.gif, 2010 results map File:Reading_Borough_Council_Electoral_Make-up_2011.gif, 2011 results map File:Reading_Borough_Council_Electoral_Make-Up_2012.gif, 2012 results map File:Reading_Borough_Council_Electoral_Make-up_2011.gif, 2014 results map File:Reading_Borough_Council_Electoral_Make-Up_2012.gif, 2015 results map File:Reading_Borough_Council_Electoral_Make-Up_2012.gif, 2016 results map File:RBC 2018Election.gif, 2018 results map File:RBC Council Composition 2019.gif, 2019 results map File:Reading UK local election 2021 map.svg, 2021 results map File:Reading UK ward map 2022 (results).svg, 2022 results map

By-election results

By-elections are listed on the pages of the last council-wide election prior to the by-election, with the exception of the 1977 by-election below which was due to a boundary change and increase in number of councillors rather than needing to fill a vacancy on the council.

Thames by-election April 1977

On 1 April 1977 the borough was enlarged by the addition of parts of the parishes of Eye and Dunsden, Kidmore End and

Mapledurham Mapledurham is a small village, civil parish and country estate beside the River Thames in southern Oxfordshire. The large parish borders Caversham, the most affluent major district of Reading, Berkshire. Historic buildings in the area include ...

, all from

South Oxfordshire South Oxfordshire is a local government district in the ceremonial county of Oxfordshire, England. Its council is temporarily based outside the district at Abingdon-on-Thames pending a planned move to Didcot, the district's largest town. The a ...

. The number of councillors on Reading Borough Council was increased from 46 to 49 as a result. The two South Oxfordshire district councillors representing much of the transferred area automatically became Reading borough councillors without needing to be re-elected, representing a new ward of Caversham Park. These two were Geoff Lowe and Harold Stoddart, both Liberals (although Lowe later defected to the Conservatives in 1978). Reading's existing Thames and Caversham wards were also enlarged, and the increase in the size of Thames ward justified a fifth councillor being elected for that ward, for which a by-election was held on 21 April 1977, which was won by the Conservatives. After the by-election and two transfers, the balance of the council was 23 Conservatives, 13 Labour and 13 Liberals.

References

External links

Politics of Reading, Berkshire Council elections in Berkshire Unitary authority elections in England {{England-election-stub