Residents survey 2022

In Summer 2022, Marketing Means were commissioned by the Council to undertake a representative sample survey of 1,000 residents via telephone and in-street interviews. The purpose of the survey was to gauge levels of satisfaction with the local area, the Council and the services it provides.

A summary of the results can be found here.

Roads and pavements - we have delivered a £9 million three-year highways repair scheme and have commenced an additional £8 million road and pavement investment programme.

• • Over 400 residential roads have been resurfaced as part of year 1 and 2 (2020/21 to 2021/22) in the three-year-programme with a further 100 expected in year 3 (2022/23).
  • 34 pavements have been reconstructed as part of year 1 and 2 (2020/21 to 2021/22) in the three- year-programme with a further 50 expected to be reconstructed in year 3 (2022/23).

Levels of crime - a new three-year Community Safety and Serious Violence Strategy has been approved following a needs assessment and public consultation, capturing the voices of our communities and involving key agencies such as the police and probation. Seven priorities have been identified, including reducing community based drug activity, reducing knife violence and tackling violence against women and girls. The Community Safety Partnership is now developing a three-year action plan to tackle these priorities. The plan will deliver a number of actions through working in partnership across these key areas.

Traffic congestion - we are improving bus services and delivering more bus lanes through the £26 million Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) grant funding secured from Government, building a new station at Green Park and refurbishing Reading West Station, as well as investing in cycling improvements and enhancements for pedestrians. We are investing in our traffic signal assets as well as moving to a 4G radar vehicle detection monitoring system, and updating the Urban Traffic Control systems that will improve traffic flows, reduce congestion and reduce pollution levels.

Affordable housing - we are investing a further £105 million in the delivery of 290 homes over the next three years, as well as securing nomination rights to around 400 new affordable homes through the planning process over the next four years

Cleaner streets - a free bulky waste collection service has been introduced for all residents across the borough. For Reading town centre, we will be investigating how, through our street cleansing and waste collection services, we can reduce the persistent presentation of bagged waste. This will then be rolled out to local shopping centres. In addition, we are investing in a new works scheduling system to improve efficiencies and communications for operational teams within Streetscene.

Parking - we continue to address smaller-scale parking issues raised or observed through the Waiting Restriction Review programmes and consider further rollout of resident permit parking schemes where there is demonstrable majority local support to do so. We have also commissioned a review of the Council’s Town Centre Parking Strategy.