Our 2026 survey of town and parish councils has given us a valuable picture of the issues facing local councils and rural communities across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. Most importantly, it has helped us understand where Cambridgeshire ACRE can make the greatest difference.

Earlier this year, we invited town and parish councils and parish meetings to tell us about their priorities, the challenges facing their communities and the support they would find most useful.

Following the consolidation of duplicate responses, we heard from 56 councils and parish meetings across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. We would like to thank everyone who took the time to contribute.

The responses painted a picture of councils doing a great deal for their communities. They told us about improvements to village halls, play areas and other community facilities; successful funding bids; environmental projects; support for residents; community events; neighbourhood planning; and improvements to governance and the way councils work.

At the same time, the survey highlighted some important shared challenges.

Transport, local services and managing change

Transport came through particularly strongly. 59% of respondents identified highways and transport as a major challenge for their council, while 70% identified public transport as an issue affecting residents. An ageing population, the cost of living and affordable housing were also widely identified as concerns for local communities.

Councils are also thinking about how their communities will be affected by future change. Local Government Reorganisation was one of the most frequently identified council challenges, and losing local influence was the leading concern respondents identified about it.

There was a particularly strong message about the importance of ensuring rural communities continue to be heard: 95% of respondents said it was important or extremely important for an organisation to represent rural parish and town councils with local and national decision-makers.

For Cambridgeshire ACRE, that is a clear message. We will continue to make the case for rural communities and ensure that the experiences of our parish and town councils inform conversations about issues such as transport, infrastructure, development and changes to local government.

Strengthening the people behind our communities

Another striking finding concerned the people who make community activity possible. 89% of councils said they needed more volunteers, were finding recruitment increasingly difficult or were experiencing significant volunteer capacity challenges.

There is nevertheless considerable confidence and resilience among councils. Almost two-thirds felt fairly or very confident about responding to the challenges they expect over the next five years.

We want to build on that strength. The findings point to a need not just for information, but for practical help with engaging communities, involving volunteers and sharing workloads. We will use this insight to shape the support we offer and the resources and learning opportunities we develop.

Practical help that councils can use

You also gave us a clear steer about the type of support you want from Cambridgeshire ACRE.

Practical guides and resources were requested by 52% of councils, while 50% wanted us to share good practice from other councils and 39% wanted information about funding opportunities. Community engagement and consultation was the most frequently identified gap in existing support, followed by funding and fundraising.

We plan to respond by making practical information easier to find and use, sharing more examples of what other councils are doing and helping councils connect around common challenges. We will also look at how our support can complement that available from organisations such as CAPALC and SLCC, so councils can more easily find the right help for the issue they are dealing with. These responses reflect recommendations arising from the survey findings.

There is plenty we can learn from councils themselves. Respondents shared experience ranging from community engagement and joint working to biodiversity, neighbourhood planning, community assets, funding and energy efficiency. We want to make greater use of that knowledge so that councils can learn not only from successful projects, but also from the challenges others have encountered along the way.

Making our communications and events work harder

The survey has also given us useful feedback about how councils hear from us.

Our Staying in Touch newsletter already has an established readership, with 63% of those answering saying they read every issue or most issues. Feedback on our Staying Connected programme was also encouraging: of the 13 councils reporting attendance, 12 rated it quite or very valuable.

We also heard how we could make these sessions more accessible. Making recordings available afterwards was the most frequently requested improvement, selected by 39% of councils. We will use this feedback as we develop future events and resources and consider how learning can be made available to people who cannot attend a live session.

Making membership clearer

The survey has also helped us look at our membership offer. Among councils identifying themselves as members, asking the Cambridgeshire ACRE team for advice was the most frequently used membership benefit. Among non-members, the most commonly selected factor that could encourage them to consider membership was a clearer understanding of the benefits.

That tells us we need to do a better job of explaining what membership provides, how councils can make use of it and how our support complements that available elsewhere.

What happens next?

This survey was intended to lead to action, not simply produce a report.

We will use the findings to help shape our support for parish and town councils, our communications and events, our membership offer and the issues we raise with partners and decision-makers. In particular, the findings point us towards:

• developing more practical guides, resources and funding information;
• creating more opportunities to share good practice and practical experience between councils;
• strengthening support around community engagement, volunteering and capacity;
• making learning from Staying Connected more accessible;
• explaining our membership offer more clearly; and
• continuing to provide a strong rural voice, particularly as decisions are taken about transport, development, infrastructure and the future shape of local government.

The survey was voluntary, so it is important not to treat the findings as representative of every parish and town council in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. Half of the responses came from South Cambridgeshire. But the responses give us a strong starting point for conversations about what councils need and where we can make the most useful contribution.

Thank you to every clerk and council that contributed. Your feedback has given us practical priorities to work on, and we will use it to help make our support more useful, accessible and responsive to the communities you serve.