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Conwy County Borough Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

This council declared a climate emergency on May 9, 2019.

Council only pledge for 2030

“Following the Council’s declaration of a climate emergency in 2019, we have developed a decarbonisation plan to show the route to becoming a net zero Local Authority 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

SectionConwy County Borough CouncilAverage single tier council
Total score6%50%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
1/21
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
2/9
5.1/9
Section 5 Measuring and setting emissions targets
1/5
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

468.6 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

4.0 tCO2

per person

0.4 ktCO2

per km2

43%

Transport

38%

Domestic

6%

Commercial

5%

Industry

4%

Agriculture

4%

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 Conwy 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
Staffordshire County Council80%Yes2050July 25, 2019
Denbighshire County Council80%No2030July 2, 2019
Newcastle-Under-Lyme District Council79%No2030April 3, 2019
Derbyshire County Council78%Yes2032No
South Ayrshire Council78%No2045No
Lancaster City Council78%Yes2030Jan. 30, 2019
Dorset Council77%No2040May 16, 2019
Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council77%Yes2050No
Devon County Council77%Yes2030Feb. 21, 2019
Somerset West and Taunton Council77%Yes2030Feb. 21, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Conwy 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
Harborough District Council89%No2030June 24, 2019
South Oxfordshire District Council87%Yes2025April 11, 2019
Dorset Council87%No2040May 16, 2019
Lincolnshire County Council87%Yes2050No
Wealden District Council85%Yes2050July 24, 2019
East Hertfordshire District Council85%Yes2030No
Stratford-on-Avon District Council84%Yes2030July 15, 2019
Test Valley Borough Council84%Yes2050Sept. 4, 2019
West Northamptonshire Council83%NoNo targetNo
Warwickshire County Council83%Yes2030July 25, 2019
Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Denbighshire County Council93%No2030July 2, 2019
Gwynedd County Council93%No2030March 7, 2019
Flintshire County Council89%YesNo targetNo
Isle of Anglesey County Council88%Yes2030Sept. 8, 2020
Wirral Council87%No2030July 15, 2019
Wrexham County Borough Council86%No2030Sept. 25, 2019
Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council84%Yes2030July 18, 2019
Liverpool City Council84%Yes2030July 17, 2019
Liverpool City Region Combined Authority83%Yes2040April 28, 2019
Powys County Council83%No2030July 30, 2020

These councils are the most similar to Conwy 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
North Devon Council98%Yes2030July 24, 2019
Rother District Council97%No2030Sept. 16, 2019
Somerset County Council96%No2030Feb. 20, 2019
Wrexham County Borough Council96%No2030Sept. 25, 2019
Midlothian Council95%No2030Dec. 17, 2019
Norfolk County Council94%No2030No
Ashford Borough Council94%Yes2030No
South Somerset District Council94%Yes2023May 21, 2019
Arun District Council94%No2030Jan. 15, 2020
South Ayrshire Council93%No2045No

These councils are the most similar to Conwy 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
Leicestershire County Council98%No2030May 15, 2019
High Peak Borough Council97%Yes2030Oct. 15, 2019
Buckinghamshire Council97%No2050No
Wyre Council97%Yes2030July 11, 2019
Lichfield District Council97%NoNo targetDec. 10, 2019
North Ayrshire Council97%No2030June 25, 2019
West Northamptonshire Council97%NoNo targetNo
Wrexham County Borough Council97%No2030Sept. 25, 2019
Dover District Council96%Yes2030Nov. 4, 2019
Warwickshire County Council96%Yes2030July 25, 2019

Powers & Responsibilities

Conwy 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

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

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    Cite this page

    mySociety, Climate Emergency UK (2023). CAPE: Conwy County Borough Council. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/conwy-county-borough-council/ [Accessed 26 Mar 2023].

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