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Barrow-in-Furness Borough Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

This council declared a climate emergency on July 16, 2019.

Whole area pledge for 2037

“The Borough of Barrow in Furness aims to reach net zero carbon no later than 2037.”

Climate documents

Last update: March 16, 2022
Climate Change Policy 2020-2025

Pre-Plan · PDF · Whole Area

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Climate Plan Scorecard

This council’s climate plans as of 20th September 2021 were assessed and scored by trained Climate Emergency UK volunteers, as part of the Council Climate Plan Scorecards project.

Show the full Scorecard Read more about the scoring process

SectionBarrow-in-Furness Borough CouncilAverage district council
Total score20%43%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
5/21
9.4/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
0/18
8.1/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
3/7
3.8/7
Section 4 Community, engagement and communications
3/9
4.7/9
Section 5 Measuring and setting emissions targets
2/5
2.6/5
Section 6 Co-benefits
1/4
1.9/4
Section 7 Diversity and inclusion
0/5
0.5/5
Section 8 Education, skills and training
0/5
1.5/5
Section 9 Ecological emergency
0/4
1.8/4

Emissions data

436.7 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

6.5 tCO2

per person

3.3 ktCO2

per km2

56%

Industry

23%

Domestic

10%

Commercial

8%

Transport

2%

Public Sector

0%

Agriculture

Data from the Department of Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy “subset dataset”, representing carbon dioxide emissions within the scope of influence of local authorities.

These councils are the most similar to Barrow-in-Furness Borough Council in terms of emissions profile, deprivation, rural/urban population density, and geographical nearness. Read more about how we calculate this.

Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Redcar and Cleveland Council76%Yes2030March 28, 2019
Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council66%NoNo targetSept. 28, 2022
North East Lincolnshire Council63%Yes2050Sept. 19, 2019
Wyre Council63%Yes2030July 11, 2019
High Peak Borough Council62%Yes2030Oct. 15, 2019
Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council60%Yes2030Sept. 28, 2020
Wakefield Metropolitan District Council59%Yes2030May 23, 2019
Hartlepool Borough Council58%NoNo targetNo
North Ayrshire Council58%No2030June 25, 2019
Wrexham County Borough Council58%No2030Sept. 25, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Barrow-in-Furness Borough Council in terms of their emissions profile, based on the latest data from the Department of Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy. Read more about how we calculate this.

Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Redcar and Cleveland Council71%Yes2030March 28, 2019
High Peak Borough Council65%Yes2030Oct. 15, 2019
North East Lincolnshire Council65%Yes2050Sept. 19, 2019
Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council64%NoNo targetSept. 28, 2022
Hartlepool Borough Council61%NoNo targetNo
Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council61%Yes2030Sept. 28, 2020
Selby District Council60%Yes2030No
Wyre Council57%Yes2030July 11, 2019
Fenland District Council56%NoNo targetNo
Stoke-on-Trent City Council54%NoNo targetJuly 4, 2019

Read more about how we calculate this.

Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Copeland Borough Council94%Yes2050No
Blackpool Borough Council93%Yes2030June 26, 2019
South Lakeland District Council92%Yes2030Feb. 26, 2019
Wyre Council92%Yes2030July 11, 2019
Fylde Borough Council91%NoNo targetNo
Cumbria County Council91%Yes2050No
Lancaster City Council91%Yes2030Jan. 30, 2019
Preston City Council89%No2030April 18, 2019
Allerdale Borough Council88%Yes2030Sept. 25, 2019
Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council88%Yes2030July 18, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Barrow-in-Furness Borough Council in terms of the proportion of their population living in high deprivation, medium deprivation, and low deprivation neighbourhoods. Read more about how we calculate this.

Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Pendle Borough Council96%Yes2030July 11, 2019
St Helens Metropolitan Borough Council95%Yes2040June 10, 2019
Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council95%No2040Sept. 19, 2019
South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority95%No2040Nov. 7, 2019
Mansfield District Council95%No2040March 5, 2019
Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council95%No2030Oct. 30, 2019
Peterborough City Council95%Yes2030July 24, 2019
Redcar and Cleveland Council94%Yes2030March 28, 2019
West Yorkshire Combined Authority93%No2038June 27, 2019
Newport City Council93%Yes2030Nov. 23, 2021

These councils are the most similar to Barrow-in-Furness Borough Council in terms of the proportion of their population living in urban, rural, and highly rural neighbourhoods. Read more about how we calculate this.

Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Redcar and Cleveland Council92%Yes2030March 28, 2019
Great Yarmouth Borough Council89%NoNo targetNo
Durham County Council87%Yes2030Feb. 20, 2019
South Staffordshire Council85%YesNo targetSept. 10, 2019
Central Bedfordshire Council84%No2030July 19, 2019
Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council84%Yes2050No
Bolsover District Council84%YesNo targetNo
Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council83%Yes2030July 9, 2019
Teignbridge District Council83%Yes2025April 18, 2019
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority81%Yes2050No

Powers & Responsibilities

Barrow-in-Furness Borough Council is a Non-Metropolitan District, with powers over:

Council buildings and staff

Climate actions might include:

  • making council offices more energy efficient
  • incentivising ‘Active Travel’ or public transport use among employees
  • providing carbon literacy training for employees
    Environmental health

    Climate actions might include:

    • reducing industrial emissions through air quality enforcement
    • bringing up insulation and energy efficiency standards through enforcement of the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) and Decent Homes Standard 2000, for cold and damp conditions in private rental and social housing

    See more in the Climate Emergency UK checklist.

    Planning and building control

    Climate actions might include:

    • imposing reasonable requirements that new developments comply with energy efficiency standards and get a proportion of their energy from local, renewable sources (Planning and Energy Act, 2008)
    • incorporating additional energy performance standards into their Local Plan, for new works that require planning permission
    • using Area Action Plans to guide development proposals towards lower carbon emissions or more cycling and walking routes, for example
    • enforcing legislation that requires private rental properties to be of Energy Efficiency Rating E or above (Energy Efficiency Regulations, 2015)
    • funding energy efficiency improvements on existing homes, through initiatives such as Green Homes Grants

    See more in the Climate Emergency UK checklist.

    Housing

    Climate actions might include:

    • setting energy standards above building regulations (Planning and Energy Act, 2008)
    • enabling housing associations to improve the energy efficiency of their housing stock through loans
    • where councils operate their own social housing, prioritising energy efficiency – for example, by requiring Passivhaus standard for newly built schemes

    See more in the Climate Emergency UK checklist.

    Spending, procuring, and investing

    Climate actions might include:

    • embedding carbon impact assessment as part of the council’s budgeting and financial accountability process
    • utilising Public Works Loan Board loans or the Business Rates Retention Scheme to invest in emissions-reducing capital projects that otherwise wouldn’t get funded
    • specifying low carbon equipment and practices when procuring for relevant services from suppliers
    • prioritising positive environmental impacts during procurement, through the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012
    Waste collection

    Climate actions might include:

    • establishing ‘Joint Waste Solutions’ with neighbouring councils, to get more value out of waste, recycling, and street cleaning contracts
    • running marketing campaigns to encourage residential recycling, reuse, and waste minimisation

    See more in the Climate Emergency UK checklist.

    Read more about English local authority powers in the UK100 Power Shift report.

    More about this council

    barrowbc.gov.uk
    Barrow-in-Furness Borough Council’s official homepage.
    Tyndall Centre Carbon Budget report
    Check Barrow-in-Furness Borough Council’s ‘carbon budget’ – their share towards meeting the UK’s Paris agreement targets.
    Friends of the Earth ‘Near You’ tool
    Discover climate groups in this area, data about Barrow-in-Furness Borough Council’s climate performance, and actions you can take.

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    Cite this page

    mySociety, Climate Emergency UK (2023). CAPE: Barrow-in-Furness Borough Council. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/barrow-in-furness-borough-council/ [Accessed 26 Mar 2023].

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