Borough of Wokingham

Coordinates: 51°24′37″N 0°50′36″W / 51.4102°N 0.8432°W / 51.4102; -0.8432
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Borough of Wokingham
Ceremonial county
Berkshire
StatusUnitary authority
Incorporated1 April 1974
Admin HQWokingham
Government
 • TypeUnitary authority
 • BodyWokingham Borough Council
 • LeadershipLeader & Cabinet
 • MPsJohn Redwood (C)
Theresa May (C)
Matt Rodda (L)
James Sunderland (C)
Area
 • Total69.10 sq mi (178.98 km2)
 • Rank152nd (of 296)
Population
 (2021)
 • Total177,500
 • Rank116th (of 296)
 • Density2,570/sq mi (992/km2)
Ethnicity (2021)
 • Ethnic groups
List
Religion (2021)
 • Religion
List
UTC+1 (BST)
ONS code00MF (ONS) E06000041 (GSS)
OS grid referenceSU805685
Websitewww.wokingham.gov.uk

The Borough of Wokingham is a

borough status in Berkshire, England. It is named after its main town, Wokingham. Other places in the district include Arborfield, Barkham, Charvil, Earley, Finchampstead, Hurst, Sonning, Remenham, Ruscombe, Shinfield, Twyford, Wargrave, Three Mile Cross, Winnersh, Spencers Wood and Woodley. The population of Wokingham is 177,500 according to 2021 census.[2]

History

The district was formed on 1 April 1974 as Wokingham District, under the

Banham Review. The district was granted borough status in 2007, following a petition to the Queen.[3]

Government

The local authority is Wokingham Borough Council. It is a unitary authority, being a district council (but designated a borough council) also exercising the functions of a county council.[4]

Education

State-funded schools in the Borough of Wokingham include nine

special schools and numerous primary schools. There are also a number of private schools.[citation needed
]

Bracknell and Wokingham College is the main further and adult education provider for the borough, just outside the borough its headquarters is in Bracknell. The Borough's closest higher education provider is the main Whiteknights Park campus of the University of Reading immediately north-west,[citation needed] most of which in fact falls within the Wokingham Borough boundary.

Geography

Elevations range between 30 and 70 metres above sea level except higher in about 5% of the borough. The highest is an escarpment containing parts of the rural and wooded northern area, the hinterland of three Thames-side villages, facing the 30-mile long Chilterns AONB, west and north.[5] A geological part of that range of hills, Bowsey Hill reaches 137m, in Wargrave civil parish, 1 mile (1.6 km) from the river.[6]

Approximately a right-angled triangle, the borough is long north to south. It uses as its longest edge the course of the

Roman road from London to Bath through a highly coniferous Swinley Forest which sits in geology on the naturally acidic, Bagshot Formation.[citation needed
]

The town in the district is Wokingham. The villages are Arborfield, Barkham, Charvil, Earley, Finchampstead, Hurst, Sonning, Remenham, Ruscombe, Shinfield, Twyford, Wargrave, Three Mile Cross, Winnersh, Spencers Wood and Woodley. Two villages have a wide range of small retail and visitor facilities: Wargrave and Twyford. In major employment areas of trading and manufacturing Winnersh and Finchampstead are prominent. The village of Crowthorne is shared between Wokingham and the neighbouring borough of Bracknell Forest.[citation needed]

Home ownership

The borough has the highest proportion of home ownership of the six local authorities in Berkshire: combining the social (housing association and local authority provided) and private (private landlord) rented sectors, Slough's returns recorded in 2011 that its rented sector comprised 46% of its housing, whereas 18% of Wokingham's residents rented their homes.[citation needed]

Excluding lower-tier districts, Central Government has classified Wokingham as the least needy Local Authority. Government funding is about £120 per head per year. This is the lowest among the combined category of county councils and unitary authorities, the basis on which it is overall assessed, and compares with over £1000 per head in others such as the London Borough of Hackney.[7]

Tenure in Berkshire compared[8]
Unitary Authority Owned Owned with a loan Socially rented Privately rented Other
Wokingham 36% 45% 7% 11% 1%
Bracknell Forest 25% 44% 17% 13% 1%
Reading 23% 33% 17% 27% 1%
Slough 19% 34% 21% 25% 1%
West Berkshire 32% 39% 14% 14% 2%
Windsor and Maidenhead 33% 36% 13% 16% 2%

Freedom of the Borough

The following people and military units have received the Freedom of the Borough of Wokingham.

Individuals

  • Stanley Leonard Bowyer: 30 January 1973.
  • Leonard Goddard Smalley: 30 January 1973.

[9]

Military Units

References

  1. ^
    Office for National Statistics
    . Retrieved 5 January 2024.
  2. ^ "Berkshire Observatory – Wokingham – Population & Demographics". wokingham.berkshireobservatory.co.uk. Retrieved 13 November 2022.
  3. ^ "Annual Monitoring Report December 2007[permanent dead link]", p. 4 bottom, Wokingham Borough Council
  4. ^ Berkshire (Structural Change) Order 1996 (SI 1996/1879), art.3
  5. ^ "The Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty - explore - enjoy. Retrieved 2015-01-28". Archived from the original on 6 February 2015. Retrieved 28 January 2015.
  6. ^ Geograph.org.uk map retrieved 2015-01-28
  7. ^ More or Less, Radio 4 programme. Date needed.
  8. ^ "Office for National Statistics". Archived from the original on 11 February 2003. Retrieved 22 November 2018.
  9. ^ "Freedom of the Borough for Bowyer and Smalley · Wokingham's Virtual Museum".
  10. ^ Vashisht, Rahul (15 June 2015). "REME soldiers march through Wokingham for the last time".