Police have been cracking down on anti-social behaviour and nuisance e-bike riding in Woodley town centre, but worries from residents remain.
Concern about anti-social behaviour, illegal e-bike and e-scooter riding and shoplifting at the Woodley precinct has been raised several times in recent years.
Residents have reported incidents to Thames Valley Police, which has dispatched officers on patrols in an attempt to deter indecent behaviour and criminality.
Police action led to 15 illegal e-bikes being seized last summer.
The activities officers have undertaken in Woodley formed part of a police presentation at a Wokingham Borough Council meeting.
Felicity Parker, the Local Command Unit Commander for Berkshire West, said: “Anti-social behaviour was starting to rise over the summer, particularly around e-scooters as well.
“So, we made sure we had high visibility patrols with our neighbourhood policing.
“The community is able to say what areas they’re concerned with and then we put that into a hotspot.
“We then have it on our app to make sure that we go into the area from our neighbourhood teams, but also the other uniform responses as well, to give that reassurance that we’re going to be doing more.
“Since we’ve been doing that, we’ve seized 15 e-bikes because they were causing anti-social behaviour and they were illegal.
“We’ve done lots of work in the schools as well with our new schools officers, and there’s more CCTV that’s been installed in Woodley.
“So, we’ve been able to show that when there was an issue that we were concerned about, we took positive steps straight away to make sure we kept that crime level down, and we were successful in doing that.”
Councillor Greg Bello voiced neighbour concerns that police patrols remain low in the town.
He did acknowledge that the ‘Woodley station’ at the Oakwood Centre had reopened in 2024.
Thames Valley Police has clarified that this facility serves as a base for the neighbourhood team, and that crimes cannot be reported there.
Instead, members of the public must report crime online or at the Loddon Valley Police Station in Lower Earley.
Cllr Bello asked: “Local residents in Woodley have expressed concern that the level of police patrolling in Woodley Town Centre and Woodley in general as an area uh has gone down over the year, with low police presence.
“Could the local commander please provide information on what operational arrangements are in place and how Woodley residents’ concerns can be addressed, please?”
Chief Superintendent Parker replied: “You might not always see us, it depends where those hot spots are, but we are definitely working proactively in the Woodley area. The station has reopened which is very positive.
“It’s not 24/7, but the PCSOs and the police constables who work for the Woodley neighbourhood team are stationed there and they start and finish there.
“If there’s some feedback from the community of areas where we should be going to, we can put that into our patrol plan and uh make sure that we are serving the people in Woodley.”
The police presentation took place at the full council meeting on November 27, 2025.
