Reading Festival 2023 rolls into town

• Info on traffic, travel, getting to and from the festival site, a residents hotline number and how organisers are working towards a more sustainable event
• Festival goers are again being urged to say no to single-use plastics and take their tents home
• Day ticket holders for Saturday, August 26 are being urged to plan to use alternative transport as Reading Station will be closed for planned industrial action from 7pm on Saturday until 7am on Sunday.

Reading will transform into a festival town once again next week and residents are reminded to plan ahead. Shops, public transport and roads will be a lot busier than usual as 105,000 people attend the three-day event.

Plan for Traffic Delays

Local residents planning to travel into or around the town centre from Wednesday 23 August to Friday 25 August are being asked to plan their journey in advance, leave early and be prepared for longer travel times as festival goers arrive. Thursday August 24 is expected to be particularly busy as most festival-goers arrive that day.

Near to normal travel levels are expected on the Saturday and Sunday of the festival (26 and 27 August), although shops and supermarkets will be busier than usual.
Roads will be extremely busy again on the Bank Holiday Monday (28 August) as festival-goers leave the event.

Parking

Residents are advised parking restrictions, including no stopping for pick-ups, will be in place around the Richfield Avenue site as usual. The area should be avoided.

Hills Meadow Car Park will be the dedicated area for drop off/pick up. From here festival goers can either walk to the site or use the free shuttle boats provided. If dropping off/picking up, please use satnav postcode for Hills Meadow Car Park RG4 8DH.

People are advised to be on their guard against any illegal/unregulated boats that may be operating, which includes offering a taxi service.

Temporary Traffic Management

As usual, temporary traffic management will be in place at various locations around town. Please look out for signage.

For security and safety, the usual night-time closure of the Thames Path (from 7pm to 6am) will again be in operation from Thursday 24 August to Monday 28 August. The closure will apply between Scours Lane to the far end of Thameside Promenade.

There is again a full closure of Richfield Avenue – between its junctions with Cardiff Road and Tessa Road – from 10.30pm to 1.00am, on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of festival weekend. This closure is to assist a safe exit from the festival site of the 20,000-day ticket holders, with a contingency to extend eastbound to the junction with Caversham Road (except for access) should reasons of safety necessitate.

During Bank Holiday Monday (August 28), the Napier Road / Vastern Road roundabout will be particularly busy, with temporary traffic management utilised if required.

The northbound closure of Cow Lane, between Portman Road and Cardiff Road, is also likely to be reinstated between 8am and 3pm on the Bank Holiday Monday to help with the coach transfers and exit of service vehicles on the festival site, depending on traffic levels in this area. It is advisable to avoid driving through these areas, in addition to the areas immediately around the site and main event car parks, on the Bank Holiday Monday.

There will be enforced parking and loading restrictions in place around the festival site, particularly along Richfield Avenue.

The Council has again worked with the festival organisers to produce travel information, made available to festival-goers and the general public, via the festival website: www.readingfestival.com/information-category/travel.

To help maintain traffic flow, the Council’s parking enforcement officers will as always be working alongside police to crack down on people who park illegally and cause an obstruction.

Throughout the duration of the festival, a temporary taxi rank will be operating in Tessa Road – opposite Rivermead Leisure Centre and next to the festival site – as a further option when travelling to and from the site.

Festival-goers are reminded not to use private land as pick-up/drop-off points without express permission from the landowner or they may be liable to receive parking fines and/or be subject to other legal action.

Due to planned industrial action, Reading Station will be closed from 7pm on Saturday until 7am on Sunday, with no trains during that time. It is important that day ticket holders for Saturday plan ahead for alternative transport.

Rivermead Leisure Centre, Noise Checks, Residents Hotline Number

The new Rivermead Leisure Centre and its facilities will be closed for normal activities from Weds August 23 to Tuesday August 29 inclusive.

The intention is once again to avoid unreasonable disturbance to local residents. Sound testing will take place on Thursday evening and each day of the festival prior to the live show. These will be conducted under the direct supervision of Council officers.

A special hotline number – 020 8080 1518 - has been set up for residents who wish to offer comments or raise queries during the event. The line will be answered 24 hours a day from 9am Thursday 24 until 3pm Monday 28 August. There is also an email for residents to use: licensing@reading.gov.uk (emails are checked regularly during main event hours).

Sustainability and Climate Change

The Council - together with Festival Republic - is again urging festival goers to build on recent improvements by again saying no to ‘single-use’ plastics and taking their tent home. The total waste generated at the site in 2022 was 42 tonnes lower than in the previous year – a decrease of 5.07%. There was also a 21% decrease in tents left behind at the site year on year.

Following the success of the festival’s first ever Eco Campsite in 2022, and after initially selling out earlier this year, Festival Republic has expanded the eco site by tripling capacity. Festival goers who want to stay with other like-minded eco-friendly campers and leave no trace should act quickly and visit www.readingfestival.com/news/staying-green-at-reading-and-leeds/

Campfires and disposable BBQs are banned at the festival site this year. Anyone seen creating or fuelling a fire will be evicted. This is to support the Council’s local Air Quality Action Plan and will contribute significantly to improved air quality at the site and for local residents in the vicinity. It is also in consideration of local impacts as set out in Festival Republic’s Green Nation Charter. For a list of what festival goers can and can’t bring into the site go to www.readingfestival.com/information-category/the-essentials/ Disposable vapes are also banned.

Driving towards Festival Republic’s target of reducing 50% of its emissions by 2030, the festival is increasingly being powered by a combination of battery storage units and biofuel to achieve greater reduced emissions.

Festival Republic, along with the Council, encourages the use of low-carbon transport such as coach, train and car sharing. It is working with Liftshare this year to promote car sharing, incentivising this with a priority car park and an onstage experience.
Due to the high carbon emissions associated with beef production, Festival Republic has taken the decision not to serve any in-crew catering.

Reading Festival goers donate £1 of their car parking fee to Trees for Cities, which has funded the planting of 22 mature trees in Reading to date.

In a new initiative this year, the Council will be placing two glass bottle banks for shoppers and festival-goers to use over the festival weekend, directly outside the front entrance to the ALDI store at Vastern Court, on Vastern Road. Many revellers leave the festival site to buy drinks in glass bottles before decanting them into alternative containers, as glass is not permitted on the festival site.

The Council hopes to capture as much glass recycling as possible at the new bottle banks to contribute to Reading’s glass recycling tonnages and reduce glass litter and breakage along the route back to the festival site, also reducing pressure on the public litter bins in the area.