Whether it is through face-to-face meetings, our residents’ survey or regular consultations which we hold throughout the year, we always want to hear your views so you can help shape the future of Reading.
One area in which your feedback about what is happening near you can really help us plan to best support you is community safety. The Community Safety Survey, launched in summer last year by the Council on behalf of the Reading’s Community Safety Partnership, showed a 5% increase in the number of residents who feel Reading is a safe place to live, up from 45% to just over 50%. Whilst only 34% felt completely or fairly safe at nighttime in their neighbourhood, three-quarters of residents said they felt either completely safe or fairly safe in their neighbourhood in the daytime, again an increase the 2023 figures.
Now we’re following that survey up by launching a series of evenings around the borough where you can come along to inform the police and the council what you see on your street and what could make your area safer.
You’re invited to attend our series of Safer Neighbourhood Forums which will be running in local communities across Reading over the next month. This series of collaborative resident-led evenings provide an opportunity to meet with officers from Thames Valley Police and Reading Borough Council to flag concerns, make suggestions and have a say on localised crime and anti-social behaviour issues.
Residents are encouraged to come along to the followingevents, which follow one that’s already taken place in Southcote, all from 7pm to 8.30pm:
• 26 February: South (Whitley Wood Community Centre, RG2 8UG)
• 5 March: town centre (Biscuit Factory, RG1 7QE)
• 10 March: West (Norcot Mission Church, RG30 4YP)
• 17 March: East Reading (Sun Street Community Centre, RG1 3JX)
• 18 March: Coley (Coley Park Community Centre, RG1 6DW)
• 20 March: Oxford Road (Argyle Community Church, Argyle Road, RG1 7YL)
• 26 March South (Hexham Community Centre, RG2 7UD)
Updates will be confirmed online when available on the Reading Services Directory’s Safer Neighbourhoods Forums page.
Along with our partners, including Thames Valley Police, we’re fully committed to creating safer communities. Thanks to Safer Streets funding we’ve already made significant investment in additional cctv cameras and lighting and have recruited to our ASB and Safer Public Realm teams where officers are enthusiastic and at the ready to investigate issues residents raise.
We’re actively working to make Reading a safer place which everyone can live in, visit and enjoy with confidence. The Safer Neighbourhood Forums are a great opportunity for you to use your voice and help us shape a better Reading for the future, so please come along.
