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Cotswold District Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

This council declared a climate emergency on July 3, 2019.

Council only pledge

“In July 2019 we declared a climate emergency. Our response to this means we have committed to: making our activities net-zero carbon as soon as possible, aiming for an 80% reduction against a 1990 baseline by 2030, and a 100% reduction by 2045, with no reliance on offsetting or the trading of carbon credits.”

Climate documents

Last update: March 16, 2022
Climate Emergency Strategy 2020–2030

Climate Strategy · PDF · Approved

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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

SectionCotswold District CouncilAverage district council
Total score40%43%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
7/21
9.4/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
3/18
8.1/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
3/7
3.8/7
Section 4 Community, engagement and communications
5/9
4.7/9
Section 5 Measuring and setting emissions targets
3/5
2.6/5
Section 6 Co-benefits
3/4
1.9/4
Section 7 Diversity and inclusion
0/5
0.5/5
Section 8 Education, skills and training
2/5
1.5/5
Section 9 Ecological emergency
3/4
1.8/4

Emissions data

512.4 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

5.7 tCO2

per person

0.4 ktCO2

per km2

46%

Transport

30%

Domestic

10%

Industry

6%

Agriculture

6%

Commercial

2%

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 Cotswold District 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
Uttlesford District Council82%Yes2030July 30, 2019
Stratford-on-Avon District Council81%Yes2030July 15, 2019
Derbyshire Dales District Council79%Yes2030May 30, 2019
South Cambridgeshire District Council79%Yes2050Nov. 28, 2019
Hambleton District Council79%No2034Dec. 14, 2021
East Cambridgeshire District Council77%Yes2050Oct. 17, 2019
Huntingdonshire District Council77%No2040No
Harborough District Council75%No2030June 24, 2019
Winchester City Council75%Yes2024June 5, 2019
Vale of White Horse District Council74%Yes2045Feb. 13, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Cotswold District 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
Brentwood Borough Council82%No2040No
East Cambridgeshire District Council79%Yes2050Oct. 17, 2019
Uttlesford District Council78%Yes2030July 30, 2019
East Hampshire District Council78%No2050July 18, 2019
Lichfield District Council78%NoNo targetDec. 10, 2019
Perth and Kinross Council77%No2045No
Huntingdonshire District Council77%No2040No
South Cambridgeshire District Council77%Yes2050Nov. 28, 2019
South Norfolk District Council76%NoNo targetNo
Hambleton District Council75%No2034Dec. 14, 2021

Read more about how we calculate this.

Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Cheltenham Borough Council97%Yes2030Feb. 18, 2019
Tewkesbury Borough Council96%Yes2030Oct. 1, 2019
Worcestershire County Council96%Yes2030July 15, 2021
Swindon Borough Council95%Yes2030No
Gloucester City Council94%Yes2030July 11, 2019
West Oxfordshire District Council94%Yes2030June 26, 2019
Wychavon District Council93%Yes2050No
Stroud District Council93%No2030Dec. 13, 2018
Stratford-on-Avon District Council92%Yes2030July 15, 2019
Redditch Borough Council92%No2050Sept. 23, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Cotswold District 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
Winchester City Council99%Yes2024June 5, 2019
Stroud District Council98%No2030Dec. 13, 2018
East Hampshire District Council97%No2050July 18, 2019
Harrogate Borough Council97%No2038April 10, 2019
Guildford Borough Council96%Yes2030July 23, 2019
Mole Valley District Council96%No2030June 18, 2019
Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead95%No2050June 26, 2019
West Berkshire Council95%No2030July 2, 2019
East Renfrewshire Council95%No2040Aug. 13, 2020
Oxfordshire County Council95%No2030April 2, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Cotswold District 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
Mid Devon District Council95%Yes2030June 26, 2019
Uttlesford District Council95%Yes2030July 30, 2019
South Hams District Council95%Yes2030July 25, 2019
Stratford-on-Avon District Council94%Yes2030July 15, 2019
West Lindsey District Council94%Yes2050No
Isle of Anglesey County Council93%Yes2030Sept. 8, 2020
Pembrokeshire County Council92%Yes2030May 9, 2019
Gwynedd County Council92%No2030March 7, 2019
Hambleton District Council90%No2034Dec. 14, 2021
Derbyshire Dales District Council90%Yes2030May 30, 2019

Features

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

Integrated with Local Plan Clear communication

Powers & Responsibilities

Cotswold District 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

    cotswold.gov.uk
    Cotswold District Council’s official homepage.
    Tyndall Centre Carbon Budget report
    Check Cotswold District 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 Cotswold District Council’s climate performance, and actions you can take.

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    Cite this page

    mySociety, Climate Emergency UK (2023). CAPE: Cotswold District Council. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/cotswold-district-council/ [Accessed 22 Mar 2023].

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