Emails from electoral.services@basingstoke.gov.uk start this week, paper forms follow in August. It sets up the May 2027 vote for a new North Hampshire council.

An email from electoral.services@basingstoke.gov.uk is due to land in Basingstoke and Deane inboxes this week, asking households to confirm or update who lives there. It is genuine, it is the borough council’s annual canvass of the electoral register, and this year it is the paperwork behind a vote that will decide who runs local services from 2028.

The council published the notice on 10 August and said the emails would go out “next week”, the week that starts today. They go only to households the council already holds an email address for and whose details match Department for Work and Pensions records, which the council checks against as part of the process. (Residents urged to make sure they can vote ahead of new council elections next May)

Everyone else gets paper. Later this month, forms will be posted to households where the council has no email address, where the details did not match the DWP data, or where a property is believed to be empty. From mid October, canvassers will start calling in person at addresses that have been contacted and have not replied. They carry official borough council identification and can update details on the doorstep.

Timeline from the council publishing its canvass notice on 10 August 2026, through emails in the week of 17 August, paper forms later in August and canvassers from mid October, to all out elections to a new North Hampshire council in May 2027 and that council taking over on 1 April 2028.
What happens when, on the council's own record and the government's. Graphic by Basingstoke Online.

Why this canvass matters more than the last one

The annual canvass is a legal duty and happens every year whether or not anything is coming up. This one is different because of what is coming up.

In May 2027, voters across Basingstoke and Deane, Hart and Rushmoor will elect councillors to a brand new North Hampshire unitary council. The government’s implementation letter to Hampshire council chief executives, sent on 31 March 2026, confirms the detail: the Structural Changes Order “will replace any scheduled local elections in May 2027 with all out elections to the new councils”, and North Hampshire will have 85 councillors. (MHCLG implementation letter, 31 March 2026)

Three further points from that letter are worth knowing before you fill anything in:

  • Those councillors serve a first term of five years, with the next election in 2032, after which the normal four year cycle applies. A vote in May 2027 is a longer commitment than usual.
  • The new council sits as a shadow authority first, preparing budgets and plans, and takes over local government functions on 1 April 2028. Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council is abolished on the same date, and until then it and Hampshire County Council keep running services as now.
  • Parish elections will be aligned with the new unitary elections in 2027, so parish and town council seats across the borough are in play at the same time.

The other three new Hampshire councils are Mid Hampshire, South-West Hampshire and South-East Hampshire. Each of the four is getting £900,000 from government towards transition costs.

The council’s Electoral Registration Officer, Fiona Thomsen, put the obligation plainly in the release: “You must be on the electoral register if you want to vote. Please follow the instructions in the email or letter you receive from us to check whether the details on the electoral register are correct or if they need to be updated.”

What it means for you

  • Reply when you are contacted, even if nothing has changed. The council asks people to respond promptly so it does not have to send reminders or send a canvasser round.
  • Check the sender before you click. The council’s emails come from electoral.services@basingstoke.gov.uk. An email asking you to confirm names and addresses is exactly the shape of a phishing attempt, so if anything looks off, go to basingstoke.gov.uk/elections-and-voting directly rather than following a link.
  • Doorstep callers should have ID. Canvassers from mid October carry official borough council identification. Ask to see it.
  • Some households will also be asked to renew a postal vote. That is part of the same exercise.
  • It is not only about voting. The register is used by credit reference agencies checking names and addresses on credit applications, for jury duty selection, and for identity checks against fraud and money laundering. Being missing from it can cost you a credit application.
  • New to the borough, or turning 18 before May 2027? The canvass checks households, so make sure you are named on the form or the email reply.

Registration is separate from the council services you deal with day to day. For those, see our guides to bin collection days in Basingstoke, council tax bands and parking in Basingstoke.