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Cheshire West and Chester Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

This council declared a climate emergency on May 21, 2019.

Council only pledge for 2030

“We have set an ambitious target date of 2030 to achieve carbon neutrality for the Council’s own emissions.”

Whole area pledge for 2045

“Produce a report to Council within six months to determine the earliest date before 2045 that Cheshire West and Chester Council and the borough as a whole can be carbon neutral, and revise its targets to meet that date (ideally 2030 to demonstrate leadership in the borough).”

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

SectionCheshire West and Chester CouncilAverage single tier council
Total score58%50%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
15/21
10.3/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
13/18
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
4/5
2.9/5
Section 6 Co-benefits
2/4
2.2/4
Section 7 Diversity and inclusion
2/5
0.9/5
Section 8 Education, skills and training
1/5
2.3/5
Section 9 Ecological emergency
3/4
2.1/4

Emissions data

1843.3 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

5.4 tCO2

per person

2.0 ktCO2

per km2

30%

Transport

29%

Domestic

25%

Industry

10%

Commercial

4%

Public Sector

3%

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 Cheshire West and Chester 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
Staffordshire County Council87%No2050July 25, 2019
Derbyshire County Council86%No2032No
Amber Valley Borough Council84%Yes2030July 24, 2019
East Staffordshire Borough Council83%Yes2040Aug. 17, 2020
Nottinghamshire County Council83%No2030May 27, 2021
Cheshire East Council (Unitary)83%Yes2025May 22, 2019
Vale of Glamorgan Council82%Yes2030July 29, 2019
Chorley Council82%Yes2030Nov. 19, 2019
Worcestershire County Council81%No2030July 15, 2021
West Northamptonshire Council81%NoNo targetNo

These councils are the most similar to Cheshire West and Chester 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
Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council86%YesNo targetNo
Wychavon District Council86%Yes2050No
Nottinghamshire County Council84%No2030May 27, 2021
Staffordshire County Council83%No2050July 25, 2019
Norfolk County Council83%No2030No
Tees Valley Combined Authority82%NoNo targetNo
Derbyshire County Council82%No2032No
Cherwell District Council82%No2030July 22, 2019
Suffolk County Council82%Yes2030March 21, 2019
North of Tyne Combined Authority82%YesNo targetMay 7, 2019
Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Halton Borough Council97%YesNo targetOct. 16, 2019
Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council95%Yes2040Jan. 29, 2020
Warrington Borough Council94%Yes2030June 7, 2019
Liverpool City Council94%Yes2030July 17, 2019
St Helens Metropolitan Borough Council94%Yes2040June 10, 2019
Liverpool City Region Combined Authority94%Yes2040April 28, 2019
Wrexham County Borough Council92%No2030Sept. 25, 2019
Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council92%Yes2038July 17, 2019
Cheshire East Council (Unitary)92%Yes2025May 22, 2019
Wirral Council92%No2030July 15, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Cheshire West and Chester 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
West Northamptonshire Council98%NoNo targetNo
West Lancashire Borough Council96%Yes2030July 17, 2019
Swindon Borough Council95%Yes2030No
Canterbury City Council95%Yes2030July 18, 2019
Chorley Council94%Yes2030Nov. 19, 2019
Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council94%Yes2030Oct. 8, 2019
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority93%Yes2050No
Milton Keynes93%Yes2030Jan. 23, 2019
Vale of Glamorgan Council92%Yes2030July 29, 2019
Worcestershire County Council90%No2030July 15, 2021

These councils are the most similar to Cheshire West and Chester 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
Essex County Council99%Yes2030No
Derbyshire County Council99%No2032No
Kent County Council98%Yes2030May 23, 2019
Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council98%Yes2025July 18, 2019
Maidstone Borough Council97%Yes2030April 10, 2019
Epping Forest District Council97%Yes2030Sept. 19, 2019
West Sussex County Council97%Yes2030April 5, 2019
New Forest District Council97%NoNo targetNov. 6, 2021
Staffordshire County Council96%No2050July 25, 2019
Lancaster City Council96%Yes2030Jan. 30, 2019

Features

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

Powers & Responsibilities

Cheshire West and Chester 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

    cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk
    Cheshire West and Chester Council’s official homepage.
    Tyndall Centre Carbon Budget report
    Check Cheshire West and Chester 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 Cheshire West and Chester Council’s climate performance, and actions you can take.

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    Cite this page

    mySociety, Climate Emergency UK (2023). CAPE: Cheshire West and Chester Council. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/cheshire-west-and-chester-council/ [Accessed 6 Jun 2023].

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