All 45 seats on Reading Borough Council were up for election on the new boundaries.

[1] Prior to the election the council was under no overall control, with the Conservatives the largest party, operating a minority administration with informal support from the Liberals.

[2] The leader of the Conservatives on the council, Deryck Morton, had held the council's top political job as chair of the policy committee since 1976, and retained that post after the election, but with his party having a majority.

The leader of the council's Labour group was Mike Orton.

[4] The results in each ward were as follows (an asterisk* denotes a sitting councillor standing for re-election):[5][2]