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 cerem ...

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 governme ...

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Be ...

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 ...

. Until 1 April 1998 it was a

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

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

* 1973 Reading Borough Council election * 1976 Reading Borough Council election * 1977 boundary change and by-election (Number of councillors increased from 46 to 49.)legislation.gov.uk
The Berkshire and Oxfordshire (Areas) Order 1977
Retrieved on 18 November 2015. *

1979 Reading Borough Council election The 1979 Reading Borough Council election was held on 3 May 1979, alongside 1979 United Kingdom local elections, local elections across England and Wales and the 1979 United Kingdom general election, general election. All 49 seats on Reading Bo ...

* 1983 Reading Borough Council election (New ward boundaries, number of councillors reduced from 49 to 45.) *

1984 Reading Borough Council election The 1984 Reading Borough Council election was held on 3 May 1984, at the same time as other local elections across England and Scotland. One third of Reading Borough Council's 45 seats were up for election. The election saw the Conservatives ...

* 1986 Reading Borough Council election *

1987 Reading Borough Council election The 1987 Reading Borough Council election was held on 7 May 1987, at the same time as other local elections across England and Wales. One third of Reading Borough Council's 45 seats were up for election. Before the election, the council was un ...

* 1988 Reading Borough Council election *

1990 Reading Borough Council election The 1990 Reading Borough Council election was held on 3 May 1990, at the same time as other local elections across England and Scotland. One third of Reading Borough Council's 45 seats were up for election. The election saw the Labour party ...

1991 Reading Borough Council election The 1991 Reading Borough Council election was held on 2 May 1991, at the same time as other local elections across England and Wales. One third of Reading Borough Council's 45 seats were up for election. Since the previous election in 1990, th ...

1992 Reading Borough Council election The 1992 Reading Borough Council election was held on 7 May 1992, at the same time as other local elections across England and Scotland, and a month after the general election. One third of Reading Borough Council's 45 seats were up for electi ...

1994 Reading Borough Council election The 1994 Reading Borough Council election was held on 5 May 1994, at the same time as other local elections across England and Scotland. Sixteen of the 45 seats on Reading Borough Council were up for election, being the usual third of the coun ...

1995 Reading Borough Council election The 1995 Reading Borough Council election was held on 4 May 1995, at the same time as other local elections across Britain. Sixteen of the 45 seats on Reading Borough Council were up for election, being the usual third of the council (15 seats ...

1996 Reading Borough Council election The 1996 Reading Borough Council election was held on 2 May 1996, at the same time as other local elections across England. Sixteen of the 45 seats on Reading Borough Council were up for election, being the usual third of the council (15 seats ...

Unitary authority elections

1997 Reading Borough Council election The 1997 Reading Borough Council election was held on 1 May 1997, at the same time as other local elections across England and Northern Ireland, and on the same day as the general election. All of the 45 seats on Reading Borough Council were u ...

1999 Reading Borough Council election The 1999 Reading Borough Council election was held on 6 May 1999, at the same time as other local elections across Britain. Sixteen of the 45 seats on Reading Borough Council were up for election, being the usual third of the council (15 seats ...

2000 Reading Borough Council election The 2000 Reading Borough Council election was held on 4 May 2000, at the same time as other local elections across England. Sixteen of the 45 seats on Reading Borough Council were up for election, being the usual third of the council (15 seats ...

2001 Reading Borough Council election The 2001 Reading Borough Council election was held on 7 June 2001, at the same time as other local elections across England and Northern Ireland, and on the same day as the general election. One third of the 45 seats on Reading Borough Council ...

2002 Reading Borough Council election The 2002 Reading Borough Council election was held on 2 May 2002, at the same time as other local elections across England. Sixteen of the 45 seats on Reading Borough Council were up for election, being the usual third of the council (15 seats) ...

2003 Reading Borough Council election The 2003 Reading Borough Council election was held on 1 May 2003, at the same time as other 2003 United Kingdom local elections, local elections across England and Scotland. One third of the 45 seats on Reading Borough Council were up for elect ...

2004 Reading Borough Council election The 2004 Reading Borough Council election was held on 10 June 2004, at the same time as other 2004 United Kingdom local elections, local elections across England and Wales and the 2004 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom, Europea ...

(New ward boundaries) * 2006 Reading Borough Council election *

2007 Reading Borough Council election The 2007 Reading Borough Council election was held on 3 May 2007, at the same time as other local elections across England and Scotland. Sixteen of the 46 seats on Reading Borough Council were up for election, being the usual third of the counc ...

* 2008 Reading Borough Council election *

2010 Reading Borough Council election Elections to Reading, Berkshire, Reading Borough Council took place on 6 May 2010 under the backdrop of the 2010 United Kingdom general election, 2010 general election, with 15 council seats up for election. The Labour Party (UK), Labour Party co ...

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 3 ...

* 2015 Reading Borough Council election *

2016 Reading Borough Council election The 2016 Reading Borough Council election took place on 5 May 2016 to elect members of 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 a ...

2018 Reading Borough Council election The 2018 Reading Borough Council election took place on 3 May 2018 to elect members of Reading Borough Council. There were three casual vacancies in Kentwood, Katesgrove and Church wards due to the early retirement of Councillors. The Labour P ...

2019 Reading Borough Council election The 2019 Reading Borough Council election took place on 2 May 2019 to elect members in 15 wards of Reading Borough Council. There was also a casual vacancy in Thames ward. The Labour Party held control of the council. The Liberal Democrats an ...

2021 Reading Borough Council election The 2021 Reading Council election took place in 2021 to elect members of Reading Borough Council. This was on the same day as other local elections. The election was originally due to take place in May 2020, but was postponed due to the COVID- ...

2022 Reading Borough Council election An election to Reading Borough Council took place as of 5 May 2022. Following boundary changes all the seats on the council were up for election. Previous council composition Changes: * January 2022: Chris Maskell leaves Labour to sit as a ...

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 Eye and Dunsden is a largely rural civil parish in the most southern part of the English county of Oxfordshire. It includes the villages of Sonning Eye, Dunsden Green and Playhatch and borders on the River Thames with the village of Sonning in Be ...

Kidmore End Kidmore End is a village and civil parish in South Oxfordshire, centred NNW of Reading, Berkshire, an important regional centre of commerce, research and engineering. It is in the low Chiltern Hills, partly in the Area of Outstanding Natural ...

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 ...

. 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 Caversham Park is a Victorian-era stately home with parkland in the suburb of Caversham on the outskirts of Reading, England. Historically located in Oxfordshire, it became part of Berkshire with boundary changes in 1911. Caversham Park was hom ...

. 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