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THOUSANDS of households across Eastbourne are set to receive invitations to take part in a new People’s Panel that will help shape how up to £20 million of government funding is invested in the town over the next decade.
A total of 7,500 households have been selected at random using the Royal Mail address database and will receive invitation letters in the coming days.
Those chosen have been selected through a process known as sortition, sometimes referred to as a civic lottery, which is designed to ensure a broad cross-section of residents has the opportunity to influence important public decisions, rather than only those who volunteer to take part.
Anyone aged 18 or over living at an invited address can register their interest in joining the panel. An independent second lottery, managed by the Sortition Foundation, will then select 25 residents to serve on the People’s Panel.
The final panel will be chosen to reflect the makeup of Eastbourne’s population as closely as possible, taking into account factors including age, background and where people live within the town. It will also aim to ensure fair representation of disabled and non-disabled residents, along with people with a range of health conditions and access needs.
The People’s Panel will play a key role in helping shape decisions on how millions of pounds of government funding should be invested in Eastbourne over the next ten years.
Richard Garland, Chair of the Eastbourne Neighbourhood Board, said: “This is about fairness and representation. If you receive a letter, it is because you have been randomly selected. We are not asking for experts or volunteers – we are asking for a cross-section of Eastbourne to come together and help shape the town’s future.”
The Eastbourne People’s Panel will meet over four sessions in September and October 2026. Participants will learn about key local issues, hear from experts, and work together to develop shared priorities for the town.
Their recommendations will be presented to the Eastbourne Neighbourhood Board to help guide long-term investment decisions.
The process is being independently designed and facilitated by New Citizen Project, with the Sortition Foundation overseeing the random selection process.
New Citizen Project is an organisation which specialises in participation strategy and design and has been commissioned by the Neighbourhood Board to design and deliver the Eastbourne People’s Panel.
They have run a number of high-profile deliberative democracy projects including IPSA’s landmark Citizens’ Forum on MPs’ Pay and Funding, RSPCA’s Citizens’ Assembly on the Future of Animal Welfare and Jersey’s Citizens’ Assembly on Climate Change. They also designed the overarching RAPID Democracy framework for the People’s Plan for Nature, a pioneering deliberative project commissioned by RSPB, National Trust and WWF in 2022.
