This report sets out a Draft Reading Town Centre Vision for the purposes of undertaking wider public and stakeholder consultation as the overarching place?shaping framework for Central Reading.

The Committee considered a report on the draft Reading Town Centre Vision and Delivery Plan. The draft Reading Town Centre Vision, attached at Appendix 1, set out a shared vision for Central Reading over the next 20 years and defined what success should look like for the town centre as a liveable, inclusive, economically resilient and climate?resilient place.

The report explained that the Vision would not replace statutory planning policy but brought together existing plans and strategies into a single, place?specific narrative that would be easier to use, communicate and apply in decision?making. The Vision was supported by a draft Town Centre Delivery Plan, attached at Appendix 2, which identified key strategic projects that had already been delivered, were currently underway, or were proposed for the future, and clarified the role of the Council and its partners in delivering them. It also established criteria to prioritise investment, coordinate activity across services and partners, and focus limited resources on projects that would deliver the greatest civic, social, environmental and economic benefit. The report added that the Vision and Delivery Plan provided both a clear direction of travel and a practical framework for delivery. Endorsement of the draft documents for consultation would allow the Council to align future decisions, investment and partnership working within an agreed spatial vision, and to progress priority feasibility work and funding bids from the financial year 2026/27 onwards.

Resolved –

(1)      That the Draft Reading Town Centre Vision attached at Appendix 1, for the purposes of undertaking wider public and stakeholder consultation as the overarching place?shaping framework for Central Reading be endorsed;

(2)      That the Draft Reading Town Centre Delivery Plan attached at Appendix 2, for the purposes of undertaking wider public and stakeholder consultation as the Council’s approach to prioritising, coordinating and enabling town centre delivery be endorsed;

(3)      That it be agreed that, subject to consultation, the Draft Vision and Delivery Plan could be used on an interim basis alongside existing policy documents to inform decision?making, investment priorities, regeneration activity and partnership working within the town centre.