| Official Name: | Borough of Wokingham |
| Mapsize: | 250px |
| Coordinates: | 51.4102°N -0.8432°W |
| Subdivision Type: | Sovereign state |
| Subdivision Name: | United Kingdom |
| Subdivision Type1: | Constituent country |
| Subdivision Name1: | England |
| Subdivision Type2: | Region |
| Subdivision Name2: | South East England |
| Subdivision Type3: | Ceremonial county |
| Subdivision Name3: | Berkshire |
| Subdivision Type4: | Status |
| Subdivision Name4: | Unitary authority |
| Established Title1: | Incorporated |
| Established Date1: | 1 April 1974 |
| Seat Type: | Admin HQ |
| Seat: | Wokingham |
| Government Type: | Unitary authority |
| Governing Body: | Wokingham Borough Council |
| Leader Title: | Leadership |
| Leader Name: | Leader & Cabinet |
| Leader Title1: | MPs |
| Leader Name1: | John Redwood (C) Theresa May (C) Matt Rodda (L) James Sunderland (C) |
| Area Total Km2: | 178.98 |
| Area Rank: | (of) |
| Population Total: | 177,500 |
| Population As Of: | 2021 |
| Population Rank: | (of) |
| Population Density Km2: | 992 |
| Demographics Type1: | Ethnicity (2021) |
| Demographics1 Title1: | Ethnic groups |
| Demographics Type2: | Religion (2021) |
| Demographics2 Title1: | Religion |
| Timezone: | GMT |
| Utc Offset: | 0 |
| Timezone Dst: | BST |
| Utc Offset Dst: | +1 |
| Blank1 Name: | ONS code |
| Blank1 Info: | 00MF (ONS) E06000041 (GSS) |
| Blank2 Name: | OS grid reference |
The Borough of Wokingham is a local government district with 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, Remenham, Ruscombe, Shinfield, Sonning, Spencers Wood, Three Mile Cross, Twyford, Wargrave, Winnersh and Woodley. The population of Wokingham is 177,500 according to 2021 census.[1]
The district was formed on 1 April 1974 as Wokingham District, under the Local Government Act 1972, by the merger of the Municipal Borough of Wokingham and Wokingham Rural District. It is governed by Wokingham Borough Council (formerly Wokingham District Council), which has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1998, following the abolition of Berkshire County Council under the Banham Review. The district was granted borough status in 2007, following a petition to the Queen.[2]
See main article: Wokingham Borough Council. 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.[3]
See also: List of schools in Wokingham.
State-funded schools in the Borough of Wokingham include nine secondary schools, two special schools and numerous primary schools. There are also a number of private schools.
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, most of which falls within the Wokingham Borough boundary.
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.[4] A geological part of that range of hills, Bowsey Hill reaches 137m, in Wargrave civil parish, from the river.[5]
Approximately a right-angled triangle, the borough is long north to south. It uses as its longest edge the course of the Loddon and Thames along its north-west, with a similarly salient-containing eastern boundary and an almost straight southern boundary. Clockwise the boundaries are approximately 10, 8 and 5 miles on a direct path from point to point. The southern boundary is approximately the Roman road from London to Bath through a highly coniferous Swinley Forest which sits in geology on the naturally acidic, Bagshot Formation.
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.
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.
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.[6]
| Tenure in Berkshire compared[7] | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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% | |
The following people and military units have received the Freedom of the Borough of Wokingham.