Kentwood is an electoral ward of the Borough of Reading, in the English county of Berkshire. It takes its name from Kentwood Hill, a road which bisects the ward.
Location The ward consists of the northern part of the suburb of Tilehurst, in the west of Reading and south of the River Thames. The ward rises from river level, in the north at some AMSL, to the Victoria crossroads, in the south at about AMSL.
To the north, the ward boundary follows the Berkshire bank of the Thames from near the former Roebuck Hotel to a point about east of Scours Lane. It then heads south joining Wigmore Lane and following Norcot Road to the Victoria crossroads. From here it follows Armour Road and Pierce's Hill to Lower Elmstone Drive. Here it meets the borough boundary, which it follows, largely running behind houses, back to the Roebuck.
The ward is bordered by Caversham Heights and Battle wards to the north-east, by Norcot ward to the east, and Tilehurst ward to the south. To the west the ward is bordered by the civil parishes of Tilehurst and Purley on Thames in the district of West Berkshire, and to the north by the civil parish of Mapledurham in the district of South Oxfordshire. It lies entirely within the constituency of Reading West and Mid Berkshire.
Profile Demographics , Kentwood ward had an area of and there were 9,454 people living there. Of these, 18.4% were under 15 and 17.9% were 65 and over; 78.8% classified themselves as White, 9.1% as Asian, and 5.1% as Black, Caribbean or African; 18.6% were born outside the UK.
The population lived in 3,487 households, of which 8.1% were in a flat, maisonette or apartment, and 91.9% were in a house or bungalow. Of the households, 32.0% were owned outright by the residents, 40.6% were owned subject to a mortgage, loan or shared ownership, 17.7% were privately rented and 9.7% were socially rented.
Of the population aged over 16, 64.5% were in employment, 3.1% were unemployed, and 32.3% were economically inactive. Of those in employment, 45.8% were in managerial, professional or technical occupations. A total of 32.0% of the population were educated to university degree level.
Environment
, Kentwood ward had a tree canopy cover of 22.1%, compared to figures of 17.7% for the Reading as a whole, and 16.5% for the United Kingdom. The principal open spaces in the ward are two sizable parks, McIlroy and Arthur Newbery.
Facilities The ward includes Meadow Park primary school. Tilehurst railway station, on the Great Western Main Line, lies near the river in the north of the ward, some distance from the centre of the village it is named after.
Representation As with all Reading wards, the ward elects three councillors to Reading Borough Council. Elections since 2004 are generally held by thirds, with elections in three years out of four. , the ward councillors are Glenn Dennis and Mark Keeping, both of whom are members of the Labour party, and Raj Singh, a member of the Conservative party.
References
External links Kentwood Ward in the 2021 census from the Office for National Statistics