Wokingham Borough Council’s newsletters are read an incredible 6.15 million times a year. These updates span everything from ‘Moving Around The Borough’ – the weekly traffic and travel newsletter – to special updates for SEND families. We have a ‘What’s On’ newsletter covering local events, and an Infrastructure News update on major works, such as the work on Emmbrook Sixth form or the Woodley Community Hub. You can sign up to any of these in seconds online – just search online for ‘Wokingham Borough Council newsletters’ to find the signup page.
These newsletters mean that Wokingham Borough Council can update residents at very low cost on the local issues which matter most to them. By keeping residents informed on what matters to them and how they can get involved, we help people make decisions, plan ahead and have a greater say in the future of the borough.
If there’s a hyper local issue that you might want to know about – such as the pothole on your commute or the faded road markings in your road – you can get updates if you report these online, via the Wokingham Borough Council website. This means that you will get an update with an estimated date for next steps, and a reference number. You can then use this reference number to ask for updates, and for many issues, such as Highways issues, you can track faults online.
The dialogue goes both ways. We estimate that in the year to April 2025, around 60% of Wokingham’s adult residents visited ‘Engage’, our online consultation and engagement platform – a total of 82,000 unique visitors. By making it easier for people to get information, understand the issues and take part in shaping decisions, we are helping the Council to make better decisions which take their viewpoints into account.
The internet has made it cheaper and easier than ever to keep in touch with our residents. As well as the newsletters, we have a YouTube channel, Facebook page, an Instagram account, and even a presence on TikTok. The Communications team uses these channels every day as part of a planned approach to keeping residents informed, choosing the right channel for the right audience and message. Behind each decision is a deep analysis of the impact that we’ll get for the cost. Highly polished videos can be very effective, but cost much more than a newsletter update, so are used for those messages where this will really help communication.
But what about those residents who don’t use the internet? Our policy on equality and inclusion means that we give careful thought to how we reach these residents as well. During the changes to our waste collection service, for example, a team of engagement officers toured the borough knocking on doors and attending public sessions to make sure everybody was aware.
The council continues to do more with less in all areas of our work, and the Communications and Engagement team are a part of this, working on making information clearer, more relevant and easier to find. Measurement of feedback shows that residents approve of the significant improvements made in recent years. In the coming months we will be looking to make better use of new technology to save time and effort on everyone’s part, to help residents find the council information that they need online.
By Cllr Rachel Bishop-Firth
