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Central Bedfordshire Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

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

Whole area pledge for 2030

“The actions identified now and in the future that will impact our communities are aimed at the target of carbon neutrality by the end of 2030, but recognise the behaviour of both residents and businesses, together with those who visit our area, have a huge role in achieving that goal. ”

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

Central Bedfordshire Council was a top performer amongst single tier councils, in the Commitment and integration section.

SectionCentral Bedfordshire CouncilAverage single tier council
Total score63%50%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
16/21
10.3/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
11/18
9.0/18
Section 3 · Top performer Commitment and integration
7/7
4.1/7
Section 4 Community, engagement and communications
4/9
5.1/9
Section 5 Measuring and setting emissions targets
4/5
2.9/5
Section 6 Co-benefits
2/4
2.2/4
Section 7 Diversity and inclusion
1/5
0.9/5
Section 8 Education, skills and training
3/5
2.3/5
Section 9 Ecological emergency
2/4
2.1/4

Emissions data

1043.4 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

3.5 tCO2

per person

1.5 ktCO2

per km2

38%

Domestic

36%

Transport

14%

Industry

8%

Commercial

3%

Public Sector

2%

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 Central Bedfordshire 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
Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council90%Yes2030July 9, 2019
Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council87%No2030July 16, 2019
Leicestershire County Council85%No2030May 15, 2019
Tunbridge Wells Borough Council84%Yes2030July 17, 2019
Blaby District Council84%Yes2030No
Buckinghamshire Council84%No2050No
Warwickshire County Council84%Yes2030July 25, 2019
Broadland District Council83%No2050No
Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council83%Yes2025July 18, 2019
Hampshire County Council82%No2050June 17, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Central Bedfordshire 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
North Somerset Council93%Yes2030Feb. 19, 2019
Arun District Council93%No2030Jan. 15, 2020
Wyre Forest District Council92%YesNo targetMay 22, 2019
Great Yarmouth Borough Council92%NoNo targetNo
Warrington Borough Council91%Yes2030June 7, 2019
West Sussex County Council91%Yes2030April 5, 2019
City of York Council91%Yes2030March 11, 2019
Boston Borough Council90%NoNo targetJan. 20, 2020
Newcastle-Under-Lyme District Council90%No2030April 3, 2019
East Sussex County Council90%Yes2050Oct. 15, 2019
Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Luton Borough Council98%Yes2040Jan. 13, 2020
Bedford Borough Council97%Yes2030March 5, 2019
North Hertfordshire District Council96%Yes2030May 21, 2019
Dacorum Council96%Yes2050July 17, 2019
St Albans City and District Council96%No2030July 9, 2019
Stevenage Borough Council96%No2030June 12, 2019
Milton Keynes95%Yes2030Jan. 23, 2019
Gloucestershire County Council95%Yes2030May 15, 2019
Welwyn Hatfield Council95%Yes2030June 19, 2019
Watford Borough Council95%No2030July 9, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Central Bedfordshire 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
North Hertfordshire District Council98%Yes2030May 21, 2019
Warwick District Council98%No2030June 26, 2019
Bromsgrove District Council98%YesNo targetJuly 24, 2019
Wealden District Council98%Yes2050July 24, 2019
Leicestershire County Council98%No2030May 15, 2019
Tunbridge Wells Borough Council98%Yes2030July 17, 2019
Chelmsford City Council97%Yes2030July 16, 2019
Craven District Council97%No2030Aug. 6, 2019
Bath and North East Somerset Council97%Yes2030March 14, 2019
Stratford-on-Avon District Council97%Yes2030July 15, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Central Bedfordshire 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
South Staffordshire Council97%YesNo targetSept. 10, 2019
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority96%Yes2050No
Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council96%Yes2030July 9, 2019
Teignbridge District Council94%Yes2025April 18, 2019
Folkestone and Hythe District Council93%Yes2030July 24, 2019
Vale of White Horse District Council93%Yes2045Feb. 13, 2019
Tendring District Council93%Yes2030Aug. 6, 2019
Great Yarmouth Borough Council93%NoNo targetNo
South Derbyshire District Council93%Yes2030June 27, 2019
North Lincolnshire Council93%Yes2030No

Features

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

Powers & Responsibilities

Central Bedfordshire 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

    centralbedfordshire.gov.uk
    Central Bedfordshire Council’s official homepage.
    Tyndall Centre Carbon Budget report
    Check Central Bedfordshire 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 Central Bedfordshire Council’s climate performance, and actions you can take.

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    Cite this page

    mySociety, Climate Emergency UK (2023). CAPE: Central Bedfordshire Council. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/central-bedfordshire-council/ [Accessed 22 Mar 2023].

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