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Bridgend County Borough Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

This council declared a climate emergency on July 22, 2022.

Council only pledge for 2030

“Bridgend County Borough Council is leading the way in its response to the challenges of climate change and achieving a position of net zero carbon as a public body by 2030.”

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

Bridgend County Borough Council scored zero points in this assessment. This is because the council either didn’t have any published plans at the time of the assessment, or the plans didn’t qualify.

SectionBridgend County Borough CouncilAverage single tier council
Total score0%50%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
0/21
10.3/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
0/18
9.0/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
0/7
4.1/7
Section 4 Community, engagement and communications
0/9
5.1/9
Section 5 Measuring and setting emissions targets
0/5
2.9/5
Section 6 Co-benefits
0/4
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
0/4
2.1/4

Emissions data

586.7 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

4.0 tCO2

per person

2.3 ktCO2

per km2

35%

Domestic

29%

Transport

27%

Industry

5%

Commercial

3%

Public Sector

1%

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 Bridgend County 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
Wyre Forest District Council87%YesNo targetMay 22, 2019
Caerphilly County Borough Council86%Yes2030June 4, 2019
Newport City Council84%Yes2030Nov. 23, 2021
Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council83%Yes2050No
Newcastle-Under-Lyme District Council82%No2030April 3, 2019
Worcestershire County Council80%Yes2030July 15, 2021
Swansea City Council80%No2030June 27, 2019
Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council80%NoNo targetSept. 28, 2022
Derbyshire County Council80%Yes2032No
Vale of Glamorgan Council80%Yes2030July 29, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Bridgend County 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
Caerphilly County Borough Council92%Yes2030June 4, 2019
South Ribble Borough Council91%Yes2030July 24, 2019
Hyndburn Borough Council90%No2030Sept. 19, 2019
Bolsover District Council89%YesNo targetNo
Pendle Borough Council89%Yes2030July 11, 2019
Warrington Borough Council88%Yes2030June 7, 2019
Fife Council88%Yes2045Sept. 26, 2019
Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council87%Yes2030No
Newport City Council87%Yes2030Nov. 23, 2021
North East Derbyshire District Council87%Yes2030July 8, 2019
Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council97%NoNo targetSept. 28, 2022
Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council97%Yes2050No
Vale of Glamorgan Council96%Yes2030July 29, 2019
Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council95%Yes2030No
Cardiff Council93%Yes2030March 28, 2019
Caerphilly County Borough Council93%Yes2030June 4, 2019
Devon County Council93%Yes2030Feb. 21, 2019
Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council92%Yes2030Sept. 28, 2020
Swansea City Council92%No2030June 27, 2019
Somerset West and Taunton Council91%Yes2030Feb. 21, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Bridgend County 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
Sedgemoor District Council96%Yes2030March 20, 2019
South Lanarkshire Council95%NoNo targetSept. 25, 2019
Lancaster City Council94%Yes2030Jan. 30, 2019
Gravesham Borough Council94%No2030June 26, 2019
West Lindsey District Council94%Yes2050No
Kent County Council94%Yes2030May 23, 2019
East Sussex County Council94%Yes2050Oct. 15, 2019
Bassetlaw District Council94%NoNo targetNo
Northumberland Council94%Yes2030June 11, 2019
Newark and Sherwood District Council94%Yes2035July 16, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Bridgend County 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
Blaby District Council98%Yes2030No
North East Combined Authority98%NoNo targetNov. 5, 2019
Caerphilly County Borough Council97%Yes2030June 4, 2019
Gedling Borough Council96%Yes2030Nov. 20, 2019
Wyre Forest District Council96%YesNo targetMay 22, 2019
Fylde Borough Council95%NoNo targetNo
Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council95%NoNo targetSept. 28, 2022
Wakefield Metropolitan District Council93%Yes2030May 23, 2019
Inverclyde Council93%NoNo targetNo
Surrey Heath Borough Council93%Yes2030Oct. 9, 2019

Powers & Responsibilities

Bridgend County 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 local authority powers across the UK, at The Institute for Government.

    More about this council

    bridgend.gov.uk
    Bridgend County Borough Council’s official homepage.
    Tyndall Centre Carbon Budget report
    Check Bridgend County 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 Bridgend County Borough Council’s climate performance, and actions you can take.

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    Cite this page

    mySociety, Climate Emergency UK (2023). CAPE: Bridgend County Borough Council. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/bridgend-county-borough-council/ [Accessed 22 Mar 2023].

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