Reading Borough Council

Reading Borough Council
Third of council elected three years out of four
Coat of arms
Council logo
Type
Type	Unitary authority council of Reading, Berkshire
Houses	Unicameral
Term limits	None
History
Founded	1 April 1974
Preceded by	The Council of the Royal County of Berkshire Berkshire County Council
Leadership
Leader	Jo Lovelock, Labour
Mayor	Cllr Mohammed Ayub, Labour
Structure
Seats	46
Elections
Council voting system	Plurality-at-large
Council last election	2010 (one third of councillors) 2011 (one third of councillors) 2012 (one third of councillors)
Council next election	2014 (one third of councillors) 2015 (one third of councillors) 2016 (one third of councillors)
Motto
A Deo et Regina
Meeting place
Reading Civic Centre
Website
www.reading.gov.uk

The Council of the Royal County of Berkshire

Reading Borough Council is the local authority for the Borough of Reading in the English county of Berkshire. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. Berkshire is purely a ceremonial county, with no administrative responsibilities.

Reading Borough Council has adopted the committee system of governance and the current leader of the council is Councillor Jo Lovelock of the Labour Party. The largely ceremonial post of mayor is held by Councillor Mohammed Ayub .

The area covered by the Borough of Reading is one definition of the town of Reading. However, in common usage, the town often encompasses suburbs that lie beyond the borough boundary, in the adjoining local authority areas of Wokingham, West Berkshire and South Oxfordshire. These suburbs are outside the control of Reading Borough Council.

Reading's councillors are elected by 16 wards:

Of these wards, 15 are represented by three councillors each, with one councillor elected in each of three years out of four. The exception is Mapledurham ward, which has a single councillor elected in one year out of four.