REDA Priorities

Following REDA’s Board Meeting in April 2024 (see our latest annual report) and business leaders’ dinner earlier in the year, we have updated our forward plan. The plans sets out the three principles underpinning REDA’s work and five priority areas of work. 

Core principles:      

• Moving from an annual plan to setting a 3-5 year time horizon aligned to our mission statement, based on solid longer-term income streams
• Prioritising our contractual and funded services such as the five-year BID term worth £1.5m per annum and a two year £250k employment and skills programme to support local people into work.
• Identifying up to 30% of our reserves for further investment in research and new value-added projects that meet our priorities. . 

Our priorities now include: 

Contracted and funded programmes including 

1. Continued invest in Reading Town Centre, as a top priority: delivering the BID Plans and in particular bringing in more vibrant events; working in partnership with the Council, Police and charities to combat rough sleeping and aggressive begging which affects so many of our employees on their journeys to and from work via the Station. 
2. A programme to encourage Reading businesses to buy local and recruit locally complemented by a careers, skills and employment programme to make our students and local labour force more competitive and productive especially in key growth sectors. 
3. Funding a programme of support to the rapidly growing film, TV studio and production hubs in and around Reading to help promote Reading as a global film and TV production location. This work will bring together a number of key funded strands of work including the development of a local supply chain of services to the film sector, skills training for businesses wanting to diversify into the film sector, self-employment training and other skills for people looking for work in the sector as well as careers work in schools.

New Investments and non-contracted work from reserves will include: 

1. Developing a business investment data bank to present all available relevant data on Reading, its USPs and competitor advantage to businesses located here and looking to move into Reading. We will be sharing this resource with property owners, developers and agents to use in marketing vacant office and commercial space as well as companies looking to make the case for retaining an office in Reading.
2. Continuing our tourism work stream, working with partners such as the Great West Way, Tourism South East and tourism organisations pan Berkshire to ensure Reading is well placed within the new English tourism structure. We will also be continuing our development work on the St James Way, linking Reading into the international pilgrimage network all the way to Santiago de Compostela in Spain as part of our international outlook.  This year we commissioned a baseline report to measure the impact of the tourism sector in Reading which we have established returns £400m to our economy and employs 6% of the workforce. 

See the updated REDA Story Book for more information on who we are and what we do.