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Folkestone and Hythe District Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

This council declared a climate emergency on July 24, 2019.

Council only pledge for 2030

“Folkestone and Hythe District Council has committed to reducing its own carbon footprint to a net zero target 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

SectionFolkestone and Hythe District CouncilAverage district council
Total score59%43%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
15/21
9.4/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
10/18
8.1/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
6/7
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
4/4
1.9/4
Section 7 Diversity and inclusion
1/5
0.5/5
Section 8 Education, skills and training
1/5
1.5/5
Section 9 Ecological emergency
3/4
1.8/4

Emissions data

354.5 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

3.1 tCO2

per person

1.0 ktCO2

per km2

43%

Domestic

33%

Transport

8%

Industry

7%

Commercial

7%

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 Folkestone and Hythe 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
Ashford Borough Council85%Yes2030No
Kent County Council81%Yes2030May 23, 2019
Maidstone Borough Council81%Yes2030April 10, 2019
Tendring District Council80%Yes2030Aug. 6, 2019
Colchester Borough Council80%Yes2030July 17, 2019
East Sussex County Council79%Yes2050Oct. 15, 2019
Great Yarmouth Borough Council79%NoNo targetNo
Dover District Council78%Yes2030Nov. 4, 2019
Bedford Borough Council77%Yes2030March 5, 2019
Essex County Council76%Yes2030No

These councils are the most similar to Folkestone and Hythe 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
Bath and North East Somerset Council94%Yes2030March 14, 2019
Leeds City Council92%No2030March 27, 2019
Ashford Borough Council92%Yes2030No
Swansea City Council91%No2030June 27, 2019
West Lothian Council89%NoNo targetSept. 24, 2019
Chorley Council88%Yes2030Nov. 19, 2019
Ashfield District Council88%NoNo targetNo
Lancaster City Council88%Yes2030Jan. 30, 2019
Bracknell Forest Council88%Yes2050No
Hertfordshire County Council87%Yes2030July 16, 2019
Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Ashford Borough Council98%Yes2030No
Canterbury City Council97%Yes2030July 18, 2019
Dover District Council96%Yes2030Nov. 4, 2019
Swale Borough Council96%Yes2025June 26, 2019
Thanet District Council95%Yes2030July 11, 2019
Maidstone Borough Council95%Yes2030April 10, 2019
Hastings Borough Council95%Yes2030Feb. 13, 2019
Rother District Council94%No2030Sept. 16, 2019
Southend-on-Sea Borough Council93%No2030July 18, 2019
Tunbridge Wells Borough Council93%Yes2030July 17, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Folkestone and Hythe 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
Denbighshire County Council95%No2030July 2, 2019
Caerphilly County Borough Council94%Yes2030June 4, 2019
Rossendale Borough Council93%No2030Sept. 25, 2019
Copeland Borough Council92%Yes2050No
Swale Borough Council92%Yes2025June 26, 2019
Allerdale Borough Council90%Yes2030Sept. 25, 2019
Norfolk County Council90%No2030No
Dover District Council90%Yes2030Nov. 4, 2019
Isle of Anglesey County Council89%Yes2030Sept. 8, 2020
Torfaen County Borough Council88%YesNo targetJune 25, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Folkestone and Hythe 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
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority97%Yes2050No
Tendring District Council96%Yes2030Aug. 6, 2019
Vale of White Horse District Council96%Yes2045Feb. 13, 2019
Ards and North Down Borough Council95%NoNo targetFeb. 27, 2019
West Lancashire Borough Council94%Yes2030July 17, 2019
East Riding of Yorkshire Council94%No2050Feb. 24, 2021
Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council94%Yes2030July 9, 2019
North Lincolnshire Council94%Yes2030No
Central Bedfordshire Council93%No2030July 19, 2019
Sevenoaks District Council93%Yes2030No

Features

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

Powers & Responsibilities

Folkestone and Hythe 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

    folkestone-hythe.gov.uk
    Folkestone and Hythe District Council’s official homepage.
    Tyndall Centre Carbon Budget report
    Check Folkestone and Hythe 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 Folkestone and Hythe District Council’s climate performance, and actions you can take.

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    Cite this page

    mySociety, Climate Emergency UK (2023). CAPE: Folkestone and Hythe District Council. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/folkestone-and-hythe-district-council/ [Accessed 26 Mar 2023].

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