The Community Assembly of Basingstoke is located in a town in Hampshire, situated in south-central England across a valley at the source of the River Loddon on the western edge of the North Downs. It is the largest settlement in Hampshire without city status.

The name Basingstoke (AD 990: Embasinga stocæ Domesday: Basingestoches) is believed to have been derived from the town's position as the outlying, western settlement of Basa's people, the Basingas, led by a tribal chief called Basawho, who ruled the original Anglo-Saxon settlement. Basing remained the main settlement until changes in the local church moved the religious base from St Marys Church, Basing, to the church in Basingstoke.

Basingstoke is an old market town and was mentioned in Domesday Book. At the start of the Second World War, the population was little more than 13,000, and it remained a small market town until the early 1960s. It still has a regular market, but is now larger than Hampshire County Council's definition of a market town.

Basingstoke became an important economic centre during the Second World War. It expanded further in the mid-1960s as a result of an agreement between London County Council and Hampshire County Council. It was developed rapidly in order to accommodate part of the London 'overspill' as perceived under the Greater London Plan in 1944.