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Gravesham Borough Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

This council declared a climate emergency on June 26, 2019.

Council only pledge for 2030

“Pledge to do what is within its powers and resources to make Gravesham Borough Council carbon neutral by 2030, taking into account both production and consumption emissions.”

Whole area pledge for 2030

“Gravesham Borough Council with this motion declares we have a climate emergency and we will begin to take action to prepare for the borough to become carbon neutral by 2030.”

Climate documents

Last update: March 16, 2022
Climate Change Annual Report 2020

Climate Strategy · PDF · Approved · Council Only

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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

SectionGravesham Borough CouncilAverage district council
Total score54%43%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
12/21
9.4/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
11/18
8.1/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
5/7
3.8/7
Section 4 Community, engagement and communications
5/9
4.7/9
Section 5 Measuring and setting emissions targets
2/5
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
2/5
1.5/5
Section 9 Ecological emergency
2/4
1.8/4

Emissions data

386.7 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

3.6 tCO2

per person

3.7 ktCO2

per km2

37%

Transport

34%

Domestic

18%

Industry

9%

Commercial

2%

Public Sector

1%

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 Gravesham 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
Thurrock Council85%No2022Oct. 23, 2019
Swale Borough Council84%Yes2025June 26, 2019
Dover District Council83%Yes2030Nov. 4, 2019
Dartford Borough Council83%NoNo targetOct. 7, 2019
Arun District Council83%No2030Jan. 15, 2020
Kent County Council82%Yes2030May 23, 2019
East Sussex County Council82%Yes2050Oct. 15, 2019
Basildon Borough Council81%Yes2030No
Essex County Council80%Yes2030No
Wyre Forest District Council79%YesNo targetMay 22, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Gravesham 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
Halton Borough Council94%YesNo targetOct. 16, 2019
Thurrock Council86%No2022Oct. 23, 2019
Newcastle-Under-Lyme District Council86%No2030April 3, 2019
Wakefield Metropolitan District Council85%Yes2030May 23, 2019
South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority85%No2040Nov. 7, 2019
Wyre Forest District Council85%YesNo targetMay 22, 2019
Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council85%Yes2038July 17, 2019
Broxbourne Borough Council85%NoNo targetNo
Swale Borough Council84%Yes2025June 26, 2019
Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council84%Yes2038Nov. 28, 2018

Read more about how we calculate this.

Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Thurrock Council99%No2022Oct. 23, 2019
Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council98%Yes2030July 9, 2019
Dartford Borough Council98%NoNo targetOct. 7, 2019
Medway Council98%Yes2050April 25, 2019
Basildon Borough Council97%Yes2030No
Castle Point Borough Council97%NoNo targetNo
Essex County Council97%Yes2030No
London Borough of Havering97%YesNo targetNo
Brentwood Borough Council97%No2040No
Sevenoaks District Council97%Yes2030No

These councils are the most similar to Gravesham 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
Wyre Forest District Council94%YesNo targetMay 22, 2019
Bridgend County Borough Council94%No2030July 22, 2022
Telford & Wrekin Council94%Yes2030July 25, 2019
Swansea City Council93%No2030June 27, 2019
Basildon Borough Council93%Yes2030No
Lancaster City Council93%Yes2030Jan. 30, 2019
Medway Council92%Yes2050April 25, 2019
Bassetlaw District Council91%NoNo targetNo
Bury Metropolitan Borough Council91%Yes2038July 10, 2019
North Lincolnshire Council91%Yes2030No

These councils are the most similar to Gravesham 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
Wokingham Borough Council97%Yes2030July 18, 2019
Arun District Council96%No2030Jan. 15, 2020
Wakefield Metropolitan District Council96%Yes2030May 23, 2019
Hertsmere Borough Council95%Yes2050Sept. 18, 2019
Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council95%Yes2038Jan. 30, 2019
City of York Council95%Yes2030March 11, 2019
Thurrock Council94%No2022Oct. 23, 2019
Fylde Borough Council94%NoNo targetNo
Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council93%No2040Sept. 19, 2019
West Lothian Council93%NoNo targetSept. 24, 2019

Features

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

Integrated with Local Plan Strong on public health

Powers & Responsibilities

Gravesham Borough 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

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

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    Cite this page

    mySociety, Climate Emergency UK (2023). CAPE: Gravesham Borough Council. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/gravesham-borough-council/ [Accessed 22 Mar 2023].

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