Power in Place
Having been awarded £80,000 from The National Lottery Community Fund’s Community Power Fund for our exciting new Power in Place initiative, since the start of the year we have been building our project team and working across Mid Devon communities. Our aim is to support rural communities in tackling rural health inequalities and strengthen partnerships with health and wellbeing services.
With 65 years’ experience of working with and supporting rural communities across Devon, we plan to enable communities in Mid Devon to harness local knowledge through working with Village Halls, Parish Councils, schools, faith groups and community groups. Together we plan to design ways to address some of the inequalities that rural living can bring, and build towards establishing health and wellbeing hubs based in those communities.
Why is this needed?
It is estimated that 23% people living in Mid Devon are affected by a ‘poverty premium’, in which households end up paying comparatively more for goods and services compared to people with higher incomes. Examples of this can include pre-payment energy meters and higher interest rates, as well as smaller choice of retail possibilities and limits to digital connections. Transport is another factor affecting Mid Devon residents, with fewer options to travel to Devon’s larger towns and cities to access health services. We know that in order to tackle these barriers, support and services should be developed in conjunction with local people and organisations.
What are we doing?
The Power in Place project launched at a Mid Devon Village Halls Cluster event in February 2026, to invite interested individuals and groups to register their interest. Village Hall Clusters bring together representatives from local Village Halls to share ideas, concerns and advice, strengthening the resilience of each hall as well as generating a collective energy and knowledge base across the district. They are run by Devon Communities Together across all districts of Devon.
Since then, we have undertaken six listening events across Mid Devon where we have visited communities to find out what life there is like. We have also been speaking with staff working and volunteering in health and wellbeing roles across the district. We have begun to consider our findings in co-design meetings where we have read and identified themes in what people are saying. Supported by us, the Power in Place project is listening to and understanding what communities want and need, supporting them to be central to decisions and action. We are working together to develop a model for rural health and wellbeing hubs within those local communities through assets such as village halls. We're providing expertise and support but ultimately the drive is coming from within the communities, demonstrating there really is ‘Power in Place’.
Get involved
If you are involved in a Village Hall or other community building, organisation or group in Mid Devon, Devon Communities Together would love to hear from you. You are invited to get in touch with the Community Buildings Team by emailing info@devoncommunities.org.uk or calling 01392 248919.
Our next big event to bring together communities and professionals is during the daytime on Thursday 12th November, where we will be forming plans to take forward. Do join us – keep an eye out for more details and contact the team.
Picture credits: Mid Devon : Road & Butterleigh Sign by Lewis Clarke, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons / Mid Devon : Hemyock Scenery by Lewis Clarke, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Thanks to National Lottery players, Power in Place has received £80,000 over one year from The National Lottery Community Fund - the largest community funder in the UK. This truly life-changing funding comes from the first phase of its Community Power Fund – to support underserved communities in England to affect positive change in their local area. To influence the places they live, the services they use, and the decisions that affect them. The insights from this initial funding will shape a much bigger £100 million Community Power Fund.
