East Hampshire District Council is working with local communities and partners to explore how residents can have a greater say in the decisions that affect where they live.
Our Community Development Strategy 2025-28 commits us to testing community area partnerships (CAPs) as a way of strengthening local decision-making and bringing together town and parish councils, voluntary and community organisations, residents and public services.
- Community development strategy 2025-28 (pdf 2.9 mb)
This work also supports the Government's ambitions for greater neighbourhood empowerment through the English Devolution and Neighbourhood Empowerment Act and local government reorganisation, including the development of effective neighbourhood governance.
Testing a new approach
We are developing a community area partnership pilot in the Petersfield and surrounding area, working with local partners to explore how communities can identify shared priorities, influence local decisions and work together to improve their area. The pilot will help us understand what makes neighbourhood partnerships effective, how different organisations can work together and how local people can play a meaningful role in shaping their communities.
We will use the learning from this work to help inform future approaches to neighbourhood governance and community empowerment.
Further information and updates will be added as the pilot develops.