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Epping Forest District Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

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

Council only pledge for 2030

“In recognition of this the Council declared a climate emergency in September 2019 and set itself a target of ensuring its own buildings and operations are carbon neutral by 2030.”

Whole area pledge for 2030

“To note that an action plan will be developed to cut across all relevant service areas to deliver the Council’s resolution to declare a climate emergency and its pledge to do everything within its power to make the Epping Forest District carbon neutral by 2030.”

Climate documents

Last update: March 16, 2022
Climate Change Action Plan 2021, Draft For Consultation, Version 7, August 2021

Action Plan · PDF · 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

SectionEpping Forest District CouncilAverage district council
Total score59%43%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
11/21
9.4/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
11/18
8.1/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
4/7
3.8/7
Section 4 Community, engagement and communications
6/9
4.7/9
Section 5 Measuring and setting emissions targets
3/5
2.6/5
Section 6 Co-benefits
4/4
1.9/4
Section 7 Diversity and inclusion
3/5
0.5/5
Section 8 Education, skills and training
2/5
1.5/5
Section 9 Ecological emergency
2/4
1.8/4

Emissions data

498.1 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

3.8 tCO2

per person

1.5 ktCO2

per km2

41%

Domestic

32%

Transport

11%

Agriculture

9%

Commercial

5%

Industry

3%

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 Epping Forest 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
Lewes District Council84%Yes2030July 15, 2019
Essex County Council84%Yes2030No
West Sussex County Council84%Yes2030April 5, 2019
East Sussex County Council83%Yes2050Oct. 15, 2019
Kent County Council83%Yes2030May 23, 2019
Maidstone Borough Council83%Yes2030April 10, 2019
Hertsmere Borough Council81%Yes2050Sept. 18, 2019
Arun District Council81%No2030Jan. 15, 2020
Bedford Borough Council79%Yes2030March 5, 2019
Ashford Borough Council79%Yes2030No

These councils are the most similar to Epping Forest 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
Harborough District Council85%No2030June 24, 2019
Copeland Borough Council82%Yes2050No
East Devon District Council82%Yes2040July 24, 2019
East Renfrewshire Council82%No2040Aug. 13, 2020
Tunbridge Wells Borough Council81%Yes2030July 17, 2019
South Oxfordshire District Council81%Yes2025April 11, 2019
South Lanarkshire Council80%NoNo targetSept. 25, 2019
Tandridge District Council80%Yes2030Feb. 13, 2020
East Sussex County Council80%Yes2050Oct. 15, 2019
Buckinghamshire Council80%No2050No

Read more about how we calculate this.

Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Harlow Council99%Yes2030July 11, 2019
London Borough of Redbridge98%Yes2050June 20, 2019
London Borough of Havering98%YesNo targetNo
London Borough of Barking and Dagenham98%No2030Jan. 30, 2020
Brentwood Borough Council98%No2040No
Broxbourne Borough Council97%NoNo targetNo
London Borough of Waltham Forest97%NoNo targetApril 25, 2019
Kent County Council97%Yes2030May 23, 2019
London Borough of Newham97%Yes2050April 15, 2019
East Hertfordshire District Council97%Yes2030No

These councils are the most similar to Epping Forest 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
Braintree District Council99%Yes2030July 22, 2019
Rugby Borough Council98%Yes2030July 18, 2019
South Hams District Council97%Yes2030July 25, 2019
Lewes District Council97%Yes2030July 15, 2019
Monmouthshire County Council97%Yes2030May 16, 2019
Chichester District Council97%Yes2025July 9, 2019
Malvern Hills District Council96%Yes2030July 23, 2019
Dorset Council96%No2040May 16, 2019
Wychavon District Council95%Yes2050No
Babergh District Council95%Yes2030July 23, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Epping Forest 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
Maidstone Borough Council99%Yes2030April 10, 2019
New Forest District Council99%NoNo targetNov. 6, 2021
Derbyshire County Council98%Yes2032No
Kent County Council98%Yes2030May 23, 2019
Chorley Council98%Yes2030Nov. 19, 2019
Lancaster City Council97%Yes2030Jan. 30, 2019
Essex County Council97%Yes2030No
Cheshire West and Chester Council97%Yes2030May 21, 2019
Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council97%Yes2025July 18, 2019
Wyre Council96%Yes2030July 11, 2019

Features

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

Clear communication Strong on public health

Powers & Responsibilities

Epping Forest 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

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

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    Cite this page

    mySociety, Climate Emergency UK (2023). CAPE: Epping Forest District Council. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/epping-forest-district-council/ [Accessed 2 Apr 2023].

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