Farewell from Mayor of Reading after 'lap of honour' year

Councillor Tony Page (Labour, Abbey) was made Mayor for the 2023-24 municipal year which will end soon.

He has been a councillor for 51 years, first being elected in 1973, in a tenure that has seen major changes in the town.

Now cllr Page will be stepping down from council life with a new generation of councillors set to take the reins.

In an interview with the Local Democracy Reporting Service, he reflected on his year, and revealed why he has not been mayor earlier in his career.

Cllr Page said: “Being mayor would have meant relinquishing my portfolio at the time, and I didn’t particularly want to.

“Doing mayor for some they see it as an ongoing undertaking, I always see it as a rounding off my career in local government and that’s how it’s panned over this last year.

“It’s been very enjoyable, there hasn’t been an event that I’ve been at that I hven’t known somebody, I suppose having been around for so many decades that’ inevitable and also very enjoyable.

READ MORE: Reading West station building opens after years-long project 

“It’s been a ‘lap of honour’ and I’ve had a huge number of organisations that have wanted to engage and it’s been very satisfying to visit a lot of organisations and undertake commitments in projects that I’ve had a long term involvement with.

“So for example ReadiBus I did an unveiling of their new livery. 40 years ago I was responsible for having proposed the resolution that set ReadiBus up.

Councillor Tony Page (Labour, Abbey) the Mayor of Reading, received an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from the University of Reading with VC Professor Robert Van de Noort (left) and Chancellor Paul Lindley (right). Credit: University of Reading

“Over that period I have been involved with them and seen them go from strength to strength, involvement with Reading Buses and then all the other transport initiatives, and all the other voluntary organisations that I’ve had dealings with as well.

“That’s the reason I have not done it [being the mayor] before, because it would have meant disengaging from the very much hands-on responsibilities that I had as a lead councillor, and I candidly didn’t want to do that at that stage.

“As the end of one’s period on the council I think is quite appropriate.”

Councillor Tony Page (Labour, Abbey) the Mayor of Reading, Rowan McKellar GB champion rower and Peter Bundley, chief executive of GLL at the opening of Rivermead Leisure Centre. Credit: Chris Forsey

Through the years, cllr Page has seen many changes in the town.

One of those is the Green Park development, which cllr Page recalls going to 25 years ago when the area was what he called ‘all fields and floods’.

His first official engagement was the opening of Green Park Station in May 2023.

Cllr Page said: “We had hoped to have gotten that open about 10 years earlier, but it was not to be and of course, covid delayed things as well.

“But seeing the transformation of an area like Green Park has been hugely satisfying because it has actually turned out better than some of us thought, having been involved in planning developments on a whole host of sites, you get pitches from developers and sometimes you think ‘oh there’s a lot of bullsh*t in that.

“But Green Park has come in better than many of us thought would be possible.”

Cllr Page will be replaced as an Abbey ward councillor by David Stevens, a previous Conservative cllr who switched to Labour and was elected on May 3.

The new mayor for the 2024-25 municipal year will be cllr Glenn Dennis (Labour, Kentwood) who will be appointed at the council’s annual general meeting on Wednesday, May 22.