Welcome

Jackie Yates
Chief Executive

I am delighted you have taken the time to explore these two exciting leadership opportunities.

Reading is one of the best places to live and invest in the UK. It’s a thriving borough in itself, but also benefits from first-class connectivity by road and rail – including the recently opened Elizabeth Line and new Green Park Station. Reading is a culturally rich and diverse place with a thriving economy that has bounced back well from Covid - but if it's to continue to thrive and grow, it needs a strong and ambitious Council to stand up for the borough and support its community.

We are committed to doing all that we can to redress the social and economic inequality that persists in our borough – to ensure that Reading’s success is shared by all in our community. Our financial resilience is enabling us to invest in new leisure facilities; improvements to local infrastructure; new council housing and accommodation for older people and vulnerable adults. All of this is underpinned by a commitment to a carbon neutral Reading by 2030, working towards making Reading a greener, and more attractive place to live. It’s a hugely ambitious and exciting agenda, which makes the organisation one of the most exciting places to work in local government today.

No doubt you’ll be undertaking plenty of research in preparing your application. In doing so you’ll quickly identify just how far the Council has come in recent years. We are absolutely committed to maintaining this momentum and further embedding the good practice that is the foundation for high quality service delivery. As we look forward (from a position of greater organisational confidence), we recognise there is much to do. If you join us at this key stage, you can be assured that either of these roles will present plenty of complex professional challenges, alongside opportunities to innovative and deliver exciting and impactful outcomes for our diverse community.

As part of an ambitious new senior team, both roles will be instrumental in setting the tone for the organisation, establishing clarity around our offer to, and expectations of, the people who work here; and ensuring we live up to the commitments we make to our customers. I look forward to working with the successful candidates to achieve the very best for Reading and all our residents.