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Breckland District Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

This council declared a climate emergency on Sept. 19, 2019.

Whole area pledge for 2035

“Breckland District Council declared a state of climate emergency on the 19th of September 2019 and is committed to reducing the level of Greenhouse gases emissions within the District to net zero by 2035.”

Climate documents

Last update: March 16, 2022

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

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

Emissions data

635.1 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

4.5 tCO2

per person

0.5 ktCO2

per km2

47%

Transport

31%

Domestic

14%

Industry

4%

Commercial

3%

Agriculture

2%

Public Sector

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 Breckland District 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
Norfolk County Council83%No2030No
South Holland District Council82%NoNo targetNo
Babergh District Council81%Yes2030July 23, 2019
Bassetlaw District Council80%NoNo targetNo
Braintree District Council80%Yes2030July 22, 2019
Lincolnshire County Council79%Yes2050No
South Norfolk District Council78%NoNo targetNo
Mid Suffolk District Council78%Yes2030July 25, 2019
East Suffolk Council77%No2030July 24, 2019
Boston Borough Council76%NoNo targetJan. 20, 2020

These councils are the most similar to Breckland District 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
South Derbyshire District Council92%Yes2030June 27, 2019
Babergh District Council92%Yes2030July 23, 2019
Teignbridge District Council91%Yes2025April 18, 2019
Mid Suffolk District Council90%Yes2030July 25, 2019
East Cambridgeshire District Council88%Yes2050Oct. 17, 2019
Bassetlaw District Council87%NoNo targetNo
South Norfolk District Council86%NoNo targetNo
New Forest District Council85%NoNo targetNov. 6, 2021
Braintree District Council85%Yes2030July 22, 2019
North Northamptonshire Council83%Yes2030July 28, 2021
Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Norfolk County Council97%No2030No
West Suffolk Council95%No2030Sept. 19, 2019
King's Lynn and West Norfolk Borough Council95%Yes2050Feb. 4, 2020
North Norfolk District Council95%Yes2030April 24, 2019
Norwich City Council94%Yes2030Jan. 29, 2019
Mid Suffolk District Council94%Yes2030July 25, 2019
South Norfolk District Council94%NoNo targetNo
Broadland District Council94%No2050No
Babergh District Council93%Yes2030July 23, 2019
East Cambridgeshire District Council92%Yes2050Oct. 17, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Breckland District 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
Dumfries and Galloway Council96%Yes2025June 27, 2019
Isle of Anglesey County Council95%Yes2030Sept. 8, 2020
Rother District Council94%No2030Sept. 16, 2019
Somerset West and Taunton Council94%Yes2030Feb. 21, 2019
Somerset County Council94%No2030Feb. 20, 2019
Herefordshire Council93%Yes2030March 8, 2019
Thurrock Council92%No2022Oct. 23, 2019
North Devon Council92%Yes2030July 24, 2019
Denbighshire County Council92%No2030July 2, 2019
Gwynedd County Council91%No2030March 7, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Breckland District 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
King's Lynn and West Norfolk Borough Council97%Yes2050Feb. 4, 2020
Wychavon District Council95%Yes2050No
North Yorkshire County Council93%Yes2030No
The Moray Council92%Yes2030June 27, 2019
Carmarthenshire County Council92%Yes2030Feb. 20, 2019
East Lindsey District Council92%Yes2040No
Shropshire Council - Unitary91%No2030May 16, 2019
East Devon District Council91%Yes2040July 24, 2019
Forest of Dean District Council90%Yes2030Dec. 6, 2018
South Holland District Council90%NoNo targetNo

Powers & Responsibilities

Breckland District 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

    breckland.gov.uk
    Breckland District Council’s official homepage.
    Tyndall Centre Carbon Budget report
    Check Breckland District 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 Breckland District Council’s climate performance, and actions you can take.

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    Cite this page

    mySociety, Climate Emergency UK (2023). CAPE: Breckland District Council. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/breckland-district-council/ [Accessed 22 Mar 2023].

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