ESDU 86003 shows how the program of ESDU 85001, which estimates the strain distribution around a circular hole in a fibre-reinforced composite plate, is used to establish the integrity of such a structure. Working in terms of strains and a simplified overall plate criterion, the program can be used to generate design curves for any selected lay-up of layers with any properties. Those design curves can then be used to determine the minimum reinforcement and its lay-up to ensure that local stresses or strains around the hole boundary nowhere exceed some specified allowable values. As an illustration of the method design curves are given for a particular material, and two fully worked examples show how they are used to establish the form of symmetrical reinforcement, or reinforcement on one side of the plate alone, to meet allowable maximum strain values.