Category Archives: News

The annual Neighbourhood Watch Crime & Community Survey is now live. Your experiences, concerns, and insights help shape the work done by Neighbourhood Watch and ensure its efforts reflect the needs of the community. The survey takes around 10 minutes to complete, and every response makes a real difference. Your voice helps influence priorities and contributes directly to the report published on the Neighbourhood Watch website. Continue reading Neighbourhood Watch Crime and Community Survey 2025→

The Council is proposing to introduce emissions-based charging for car parking, so that those that drive the most polluting vehicles pay the most. It has long been known that air quality is adversely affected by emissions from vehicles. Part of the council’s move to improve air quality is to reduce the overall reliance on the private motor vehicle. One way of encouraging motorists to consider the alternative means of transport is through pricing. Continue reading Emissions based charging for pay and display parking approved→

Help your community to benefit from the Community Wellness Outreach project in Reading. 1,943 NHS health checks were carried out in community settings across Reading from December 2023 to October 2024 as part of the Community Wellness Outreach project. The community healthcare initiative is a pilot project to reduce health inequalities, and continues in Reading until June 2025. Partners Reading Voluntary Action and Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust’s Meet PEET team run the health and wellbeing sessions in community venues. Continue reading Community Wellness Outreach continues→

News from: Reading Borough Council – The government has given Reading council £945,000 to help people who sleep on the streets. We already work hard to help homeless people in Reading. This extra money will help us do even more. Reading got this money because it’s one of the places in the country where lots of people sleep rough. Continue reading Reading gets grant from government to help homeless people→

The rules for postal votes have changed. Now, if you want to vote by post, you have to apply every three years. The deadline to reapply is 31 January 2026. About 18,000 people in Reading need to reapply if they want to vote by post in next May’s local elections. So far, only half of them have done it. That means 9,086 people still need to reapply. Continue reading Half of Reading postal voters could lose their vote→

From 17 to 21 November 2025, the partner organisations of the West of Berkshire Safeguarding Adults Partnership Board will be coming together to mirror the Ann Craft Trust’s safeguarding theme of Prevention: act before abuse, to raise awareness of important safeguarding issues across the West of Berkshire. Each day, during the week, partners will host a variety of free webinars. These are open to all health and social care professionals and voluntary and community sector staff within West Berkshire. Continue reading Safeguarding Adults Week 2025→

News from: Reading Voluntary Action – This November, we’re supporting Befriending Week, an annual campaign to raise awareness about befriending and highlight the power of social connection in reducing loneliness and social isolation. Befriending Week takes place from 1 to 7 November every year. It’s a chance for communities to raise awareness about befriending, celebrate the contributions of befriending volunteers and the staff who support them, and advocate for befriending to local and national decision-makers. Continue reading Befriending Week 2025→

The Clean Air Living Matters project raised awareness about air pollution with almost 9,000 students in Reading. The project ran from January 2024 to July 2025 and visited 20 primary schools and 8 secondary schools. The team also talked to about 900 parents, carers and community members. In total, between 26,000 and 33,000 people learned about clean air through this program. Continue reading Clean air project reaches thousands of Reading students→

The Berkshire Adult Autism Support Service has a busy programme of free workshops for autistic adults and their parents and other family carers this autumn. The workshops offer information about aspects of autism and tips and strategies to help participants to navigate daily life and social situations, improve their understanding of autism and increase their self-confidence. They feature a presentation by an Autism Berkshire adult support mentor, plus time for questions and discussion. Continue reading Berkshire Adult Autism Support Service workshops this autumn→

ABC to read, the Berkshire-based children’s reading charity, is celebrating another year of positive impact following the results of its latest school evaluations. The charity, which has been supporting children who struggle with reading since 2004, currently works in over 100 schools and supports more than 500 children each week through its trained volunteer reading mentors. Continue reading ABC to Read: Helping Struggling Readers Thrive Across Berkshire→