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Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

This council declared a climate emergency on July 18, 2019.

Council only pledge for 2030

“Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council has declared a climate emergency and set a goal to be net carbon neutral by 2030 to tackle climate change.”

Whole area pledge for 2030

“ In acknowledgement of the urgency of the situation the Council declared a Climate Emergency and committed to work with residents and partners in the public, private and voluntary sectors to make the borough carbon neutral by 2030.”

Climate documents

Last update: March 6, 2023
Climate Emergency Action Plan, February 2020

Action Plan · PDF

Show more action plan documents
Climate Emergency Action Plan, February 2020

Action Plan · PDF · We no longer hold a copy of this document

Blackburn With Darwen Borough Council’s Climate Change Adaptation Strategy & Action Plan

Climate Strategy · PDF · Council Only

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

SectionBlackburn with Darwen Borough CouncilAverage single tier council
Total score41%50%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
8/21
10.3/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
8/18
9.0/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
3/7
4.1/7
Section 4 Community, engagement and communications
6/9
5.1/9
Section 5 Measuring and setting emissions targets
3/5
2.9/5
Section 6 Co-benefits
3/4
2.2/4
Section 7 Diversity and inclusion
0/5
0.9/5
Section 8 Education, skills and training
0/5
2.3/5
Section 9 Ecological emergency
2/4
2.1/4

Emissions data

493.0 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

3.3 tCO2

per person

3.6 ktCO2

per km2

40%

Domestic

23%

Transport

23%

Industry

8%

Commercial

6%

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 Blackburn with Darwen 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
Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council91%No2025Sept. 11, 2019
Bradford Metropolitan District Council89%Yes2030Jan. 15, 2019
Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council88%Yes2038July 17, 2019
Burnley Borough Council86%Yes2030July 10, 2019
Liverpool City Region Combined Authority85%Yes2040April 28, 2019
Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council85%Yes2030Aug. 29, 2019
Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council85%No2038Feb. 24, 2020
Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council84%Yes2050Sept. 16, 2019
Greater Manchester Combined Authority84%No2038July 26, 2019
Hyndburn Borough Council84%No2030Sept. 19, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Blackburn with Darwen 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
Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council91%No2038Feb. 24, 2020
Ashfield District Council90%NoNo targetNo
Erewash Borough Council89%No2050No
Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council89%No2025Sept. 11, 2019
Sheffield City Council88%Yes2050Feb. 6, 2019
Harlow Council87%Yes2030July 11, 2019
Bradford Metropolitan District Council87%Yes2030Jan. 15, 2019
Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council87%Yes2038July 17, 2019
Chorley Council86%Yes2030Nov. 19, 2019
Greater Manchester Combined Authority86%No2038July 26, 2019
Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Hyndburn Borough Council98%No2030Sept. 19, 2019
Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council97%Yes2030Aug. 29, 2019
Chorley Council96%Yes2030Nov. 19, 2019
Bury Metropolitan Borough Council96%Yes2038July 10, 2019
Rossendale Borough Council96%No2030Sept. 25, 2019
Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council95%Yes2038July 17, 2019
Ribble Valley Borough Council95%No2030No
Salford City Council95%No2038July 17, 2019
South Ribble Borough Council95%Yes2030July 24, 2019
Preston City Council95%No2030April 18, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Blackburn with Darwen 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
Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council94%No2025Sept. 11, 2019
Hartlepool Borough Council93%NoNo targetNo
Hyndburn Borough Council92%No2030Sept. 19, 2019
Burnley Borough Council91%Yes2030July 10, 2019
Halton Borough Council89%YesNo targetOct. 16, 2019
Bradford Metropolitan District Council88%Yes2030Jan. 15, 2019
Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council87%Yes2050Sept. 16, 2019
Liverpool City Region Combined Authority86%Yes2040April 28, 2019
Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council85%Yes2030Aug. 29, 2019
Middlesbrough Borough Council85%No2029Sept. 4, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Blackburn with Darwen 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
Three Rivers District Council98%No2030May 21, 2019
Burnley Borough Council97%Yes2030July 10, 2019
Reigate & Banstead Borough Council97%Yes2030No
Hartlepool Borough Council97%NoNo targetNo
Thanet District Council96%Yes2030July 11, 2019
Bracknell Forest Council96%Yes2050No
St Helens Metropolitan Borough Council96%Yes2040June 10, 2019
South Ribble Borough Council96%Yes2030July 24, 2019
Leeds City Council96%No2030March 27, 2019
Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council96%YesNo targetNo

Features

This council’s climate plan has been tagged with the following features:

Powers & Responsibilities

Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council is a Unitary Authority, 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.

    Passenger transport

    Climate actions might include:

    • encouraging bus and private hire operators to use low-emission vehicles, through licensing requirements or Clean Air Zones
    • incentivising bus use by improving routes, timetables, and ticket prices through ‘Enhanced Partnerships’ with operators
    • proposing to central government the development of light rail / tram networks that integrate, rather than compete, with other modes of transport in the area

    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.

    Schools and libraries

    Climate actions might include:

    • reducing the carbon footprint of civic buildings through better insulation and renewable energy use
    • incentivising ‘Active Travel’ or public transport use among employees
    • providing carbon literacy training for employees
    • encouraging eco-clubs at schools
    • using school land to plant trees and hedgerows, or to grow food

    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
    Transport planning

    Climate actions might include:

    • incentivising ‘Active Travel’ like walking and cycling by creating or widening footways and cycleways
    • incentivising Electric Vehicle use by assigning street space to EV charging
    • disincentivising the use of fossil fuel cars through congestion charging,low-traffic neighbourhoods, or the reduction of parking space

    See more in the Climate Emergency UK checklist.

    Waste collection and disposal

    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

    blackburn.gov.uk
    Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council’s official homepage.
    Tyndall Centre Carbon Budget report
    Check Blackburn with Darwen 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 Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council’s climate performance, and actions you can take.

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    Cite this page

    mySociety, Climate Emergency UK (2023). CAPE: Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/blackburn-with-darwen-borough-council/ [Accessed 22 Mar 2023].

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