Council tax is set to increase in Woodley to pay for town services and community facilities.
Woodley Town Council is a precepting body which collects council tax to pay for the maintenance and running of facilities such as the Oakwood Centre, Woodford Park and leisure centre, and Coronation Hall.
The other precepting bodies that collect the tax from people in Woodley are Wokingham Borough Council, Thames Valley Police and the Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service.
Woodley councillors are mulling putting council tax up as it has not increased for three years in a row.
A report by the council’s financial officer implied that an increase is all but inevitable following a freeze in the council tax precept this financial year.
The report states: “In February 2025, the council set a budget for the current (2025/26) financial year that was supported by a 0 per cent rise in precept, with net expenditure funded from the General Reserve.
“As indicated in the relevant budget papers at the time, this decision was forecast to result in the requirement for an increase in precept of around 11 per cent in 2026/27 to maintain what was then determined to be an adequate general reserve level of around £500k.”
Councillors were subsequently given four scenarios to increase the council tax over a three-year period.
These options were debated at a meeting of the council’s strategy & resources committee.
Councillor Keith Baker (Conservative, Coronation East) stated a balance had to be struck between tax increases, spending cuts, and reserves.
He argued for maintaining a reserve of four and a half months’ net expenditure, amounting to £559,221.
Councillors debated the merits of a flat council tax increase of either 8.75 per cent or 9.75 per cent for three years, or a 5.8 per cent increase for 2026/27, the coming year, and higher rises after that.
Cllr Juliet Anderson (Conservative, Coronation Central) said: “If you have a figure in your head, that with the best will in the world, we genuinely don’t think we have the cheek to go back and ask people for more, then that helps to constrain it.”
Cllr Kay Gilder (Conservative, South Lake) argued that the council should focus on telling residents how much the increases will cost each month rather than percentages.
She said: “Most people want to know how much it’s going to cost them a month, not 10, 12, 15 per cent.
“Because of the small amount that Woodley gets per household, just over £100 a year, 10 per cent of that isn’t really very much compared to the 10 per cent from Wokingham Borough Council, which is £2,000 odd.
“So I think that people are more interested in actually how much money it’s going to cost rather than a percentage. I think percentages seem to blur things, don’t they?”
Cllr Mike Kennedy (Conservative, Bulmershe) considered scenario two, which would have increased the tax by 5.8 per cent in 2026/27, with an 11.1.5 per cent increase for 2027/28 and 2028/29.
He said: “If I was to go to my next-door neighbour and say your precept is going up by 5.8 per cent, but actually, we’ve got £600,000 sitting in earmarked reserves, which is like saying to my neighbour you can’t spend £10,000 on your new car because you’re sitting on £25,000 in your bank account. It just doesn’t square with me.
“Why are we sitting on £600,000 in reserves?”
Ultimately, councillors unanimously chose to recommend scenario three, which proposes a flat 9.75 per cent increase in council tax each year from 2026/27 to 2028/29.
That will result in a scaled increase of 87p, 95p and £1.04 per month in each of those years.
The recommendation was made at the meeting on December 16, 2025.
A final decision will be made at a full council budget meeting in February.
