Community Safety Survey 2026 - share your views on crime and safety

Key Themes reported in the 2025 Survey:

• Residents highlighted their concerns around retail crime, noting how this has increased in supermarkets and shops across Reading.
• Residents told us about Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) including aggressive begging and harrassment, particularly around the train station and throughout the Town Centre. Linked to this, residents reported concerns about women’s safety in the Town Centre.
• Residents complained about the reckless and dangerous riding of e-bikes and e-scooters throughout Reading, with a mix of fast food delivery riders not following the Highway Code, fast and reckless use of e-bikes and e-scooters on footpaths and near-collisions with pedestrians. Some residents reported e-bikes and e-scooters being used in criminal activity, such as drug dealing and ASB.
• Residents shared their concerns about the environment which also contributed to them feeling less safe. This includes flytipping, littering and a general sense of disrepair/lack of care.

What we have done in response to these reported issues:

Retail crime:

• Reading’s CSP secured funds in May 2026 to expand Reading's Town Safe Radio Network and the Reading Against Business Crime scheme to support businesses to reduce shoplifting by connecting retailers and offering radio support, training and advice. You can see how businesses benefit from these schemes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8SVq1oU8Fw
• Reading’s CSP supported a targetted Police operation, alongside Reading’s Business Improvement District (BID), to disrupt theft in the Town Centre, with prolific retail offenders being charged across the wider borough. This operation has also had the positive outcome of increased reporting by businesses, whose confidence in the partner agencies has increased. This successful work has been recognised by the Thames Valley Police 2026 Laycock Award.

Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB), including begging, harrassment and reckless riding of e-bikes and e-scooters:

• A Reading borough-wide Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) was implemented on 24 March 2026 to address ASB across the whole of Reading, including anti-social behaviour of street drinkers, aggressive or persistent begging, reckless or dangerous use of e-bikes and e-scooters and ASB related to dog behaviour. This gives Thames Valley Police and Reading Borough Council additional powers to engage and educate individuals who are behaving anti-socially, with the ultimate sanction through a Fixed Penalty Notice and/or Summons to the Magistrates court. More information on the PSPO can be found on the RBC website: https://www.reading.gov.uk/pspo.
• Reading's Tap for Reading scheme has been expanded until 2029 - this scheme provides the public with an alternative means of giving to homeless people through Tap Readers across the Town Centre and aims to reduce aggressive begging. Since it was launched in 2025, over £7,000 has been donated and 50 individuals have benefited from the funding which has been used to provide essential household items, white goods and basic furnishings to help them move into, or maintain accommodation. More information on the scheme can be found on the RBC website: https://www.reading.gov.uk/housing/homelessness/tap-for-reading-help-the-homeless.

Women’s safety in the Town Centre:

• The Reading Safe Space has continued to play a key role in supporting the safety of women in the Town Centre. Reading’s First Stop and Street Pastors use this as a base to support vulnerable NTE users, including women at risk of crime, who present to the Safe Space in consistent numbers. The CSP has funded additional lighting, better signage and increased promotion of the Safe Space to improve safety for women across Reading. More information on the Safe Space can be found on RBC’s website: https://media.reading.gov.uk/news/reading-to-open-permanent-town-centre-safe-space-for-residents
• The CSP continues to work with the Reading Business Improvement District and RBC Licensing and Trading Standards to encourage bars, clubs and businesses to promote the ‘Ask for Angela’ scheme, which offers a safe exit from risky situations in venues, alongside ‘Welfare and Vulnerability Engagement’ (WAVE) training for venue staff. More information on the Ask for Angela scheme can be found on the official website: https://www.askforangela.co.uk.
• The CSP also takes part in a multi-agency and cross-border group led by Thames Valley Police to strategically address Violence Against Women and Girls across Reading and the Thames Valley. There is a separate Domestic Abuse and Safe Accommodation Strategy to focus on reducing domestic abuse, including coercive control and violence. More information can be found on the RBC website: https://www.reading.gov.uk/crime-and-safety.

Environmental issues:

• Last September the Council introduced a new Environmental Enforcement Partnership with Kingdom Local Authority Support. Five dedicated environmental enforcement officers patrol hotspot areas daily – including weekends and public holidays – with the ability for them to issue higher fines to reflect the seriousness of these offences: £1,000 for fly tipping (previously £400); £500 for littering or graffiti (previously £80); £600 for incorrect household waste disposal (previously £400). The pilot has seen a tenfold increase in the number of PCNs issued and the Council will be extending the scheme as a result of its success.
• Kingdom Enforcement will also be enforcing the PSPO conditions relating to dog fouling and (lack of) dog control, with an ultimate sanction through a Fixed Penalty Notice and/or Summons to the Magistrates court.