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Burnley Borough Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

This council declared a climate emergency on July 10, 2019.

Whole area pledge for 2030

“In light of the Climate Emergency, to make the Borough of Burnley carbon neutral by 2030, taking into account both production and consumption emissions (scope 1, 2 and 3).”

Climate documents

Last update: Dec. 5, 2022
Burnley Climate Change Strategy 2022 - 2026

Action Plan · PDF · Approved · 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

Burnley 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.

SectionBurnley Borough CouncilAverage district council
Total score0%43%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
0/21
9.4/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
0/18
8.1/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
0/7
3.8/7
Section 4 Community, engagement and communications
0/9
4.7/9
Section 5 Measuring and setting emissions targets
0/5
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
0/5
1.5/5
Section 9 Ecological emergency
0/4
1.8/4

Emissions data

335.3 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

3.8 tCO2

per person

3.0 ktCO2

per km2

38%

Domestic

31%

Transport

15%

Industry

10%

Commercial

5%

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 Burnley 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
Bradford Metropolitan District Council89%Yes2030Jan. 15, 2019
Liverpool City Region Combined Authority87%Yes2040April 28, 2019
Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council86%Yes2030July 18, 2019
Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council85%No2025Sept. 11, 2019
Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council85%Yes2030Aug. 29, 2019
Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council84%Yes2038July 17, 2019
Hyndburn Borough Council83%No2030Sept. 19, 2019
Preston City Council83%No2030April 18, 2019
Greater Manchester Combined Authority82%No2038July 26, 2019
South Tyneside Council82%No2030July 18, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Burnley 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
Renfrewshire Council92%No2030June 27, 2019
Chesterfield Borough Council92%No2030July 17, 2019
North Tyneside Metropolitan Borough Council91%Yes2050July 25, 2019
Dacorum Council88%Yes2050July 17, 2019
Midlothian Council88%No2030Dec. 17, 2019
North Lanarkshire Council87%Yes2030June 20, 2019
West Yorkshire Combined Authority87%No2038June 27, 2019
Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council86%Yes2050No
Liverpool City Region Combined Authority86%Yes2040April 28, 2019
Bradford Metropolitan District Council85%Yes2030Jan. 15, 2019

Read more about how we calculate this.

Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Pendle Borough Council98%Yes2030July 11, 2019
Rossendale Borough Council98%No2030Sept. 25, 2019
Hyndburn Borough Council96%No2030Sept. 19, 2019
Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council96%Yes2038July 17, 2019
Bury Metropolitan Borough Council95%No2038July 10, 2019
Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council95%Yes2038Jan. 30, 2019
Ribble Valley Borough Council95%No2030No
Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council95%Yes2030July 18, 2019
Greater Manchester Combined Authority94%No2038July 26, 2019
Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council94%No2025Sept. 11, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Burnley 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
Bradford Metropolitan District Council93%Yes2030Jan. 15, 2019
Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council93%Yes2030July 18, 2019
Hyndburn Borough Council92%No2030Sept. 19, 2019
Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council90%Yes2038July 17, 2019
Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council90%No2025Sept. 11, 2019
Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council89%Yes2040Jan. 29, 2020
Liverpool City Region Combined Authority88%Yes2040April 28, 2019
Hartlepool Borough Council87%NoNo targetNo
Stoke-on-Trent City Council86%NoNo targetJuly 4, 2019
Preston City Council86%No2030April 18, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Burnley 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
Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council98%Yes2030July 18, 2019
Rossendale Borough Council97%No2030Sept. 25, 2019
Three Rivers District Council97%No2030May 21, 2019
South Ribble Borough Council97%Yes2030July 24, 2019
Reigate & Banstead Borough Council97%Yes2030No
Hartlepool Borough Council96%NoNo targetNo
West Dunbartonshire Council96%Yes2045May 29, 2019
Bracknell Forest Council96%Yes2050No
Erewash Borough Council96%No2050No
Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council96%YesNo targetNo

Powers & Responsibilities

Burnley 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

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

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    Cite this page

    mySociety, Climate Emergency UK (2023). CAPE: Burnley Borough Council. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/burnley-borough-council/ [Accessed 6 Jun 2023].

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