Coley (Reading ward)


Coley is an electoral ward of the Borough of Reading, in the English county of Berkshire. Until the 2022 Reading Borough Council election, it was known as Minster ward and had slightly different boundaries.

Location

The ward lies south-west of the town centre, comprising all of the suburb of Coley and the village of Coley Park, and parts of West Reading, together with a large tract of undeveloped River Kennet flood-plain to the south of Coley Park.
From the south in clockwise order the ward is bounded by the River Kennet, the Reading to Basingstoke railway line, Reading West railway station, the Oxford Road, Prospect Street, Tilehust Road, Castle Hill, and the A33 back to the River Kennet. The ward is bordered, in the same order, by Whitley, Southcote, Battle, Abbey and Katesgrove wards. It lies entirely within the Reading Central parliamentary constituency.
The principal changes to the ward boundary in 2022 were the loss of the section of the old Minster ward to the west of the railway line, bounded by Bath Road, Parkside Road and Tilehurst Road, to Southcote ward, and the loss of the strip of Minster ward to the east of the A33, as far as the River Kennet, to Katesgrove ward. Coley ward also gained the area bounded by Tilehurst Road, Reading West station, Oxford Road and Prospect Street from Battle ward.

Profile

In the UK Census of 2021, Coley ward had an area of and there were 11,029 people living there. Of these, 17.9% were under 15 and 10.9% were 65 and over; 60.5% classified themselves as White, 21.8% as Asian, and 9.6% as Black, Caribbean or African; 40.3% were born outside the UK. The population lived in approximately 4,600 households, of which 50.2% were in a flat, maisonette or apartment, and 49.7% were in a house or bungalow. Of the population aged over 16, 66.6% were in employment, 4.4% were unemployed, and 29.1% were economically inactive. Of those in employment, 51.4% were in managerial, professional or technical occupations.

Representation

As with all Reading wards, the ward elects three councillors to Reading Borough Council. Elections since 2004 are generally held by thirds, with elections in three years out of four, although the 2022 elections were for all councillors due to the boundary changes. The ward councillors are currently Ellie Emberson, Paul Gittings and Liz Terry, all of whom are members of the Labour party.