Progress is being made on an initiative to build more than 360 new affordable council homes for people in need in Reading.
Reading Borough Council is one of the biggest landlords in the town, owning and managing nearly 7,000 properties.
That amounts to approximately 10.3 per cent of the total number of homes in the borough.
The council ownership figure remains high despite Right to Buy rules dating back to 1980 that allow tenants to purchase their homes at a discount from the market rate.
Earlier this year, councillors and staff celebrated the completion of 46 new council homes at the Wensley Road estate in Coley.
Now councillors are looking to the next phase of its Local Authority Newbuild Programme that could see 362 council homes completed in three years’ time.
Of those, 158 are in development, and 204 are in the ‘feasibility’ stage, meaning the council is conducting assessments to determine whether a proposed development is practical, deliverable, and financially viable.
The biggest of these would be 190 homes at the Dee Park estate in Norcot.
The council is also working on feasibility for 14 homes at the former Southcote Library, which closed in 2018, with its books and services being moved to the Southcote Community Hub.
The projects listed include 42 flats at Hexham Road, with construction set to be completed this August and 62 flats in Battle Street, which will be built on the site of the Reading Central Pool.
An update on the Local Authority Newbuild Programme (LANB) will be provided at a meeting of the council’s policy committee on Monday, June 15.
The figures feature in a report by Victoria Higgins, who explained that the council is acquiring the affordable housing element created by developers.
The report states: “In addition to building new homes, we have maintained a programme of property acquisitions as part of the LANB programme.
“Our biggest acquisition scheme to date has been at Watchman’s Place, which completed in August 2025 and provides 16 new council-owned homes at the former Dee Road fire station site.
“The council has an active acquisitions programme which is expected to
deliver at least another 37 units over the next four years.”
Notably, previous acquisitions have been enabled through Local Authority Housing Fund rounds from the government.
These have enabled the purchase of 15 homes as move-on and settled accommodation for Afghan and Ukrainian families, and six homes for Afghan resettlement and easing homelessness pressures.
All of this will be presented to councillors for them to approve spending to enable the projects to go ahead.
A figure mentioned in the programme is £29.6 million for the creation of up to 87 new homes, which was approved at a housing, neighbourhoods and leisure committee meeting in November 2022.
