Back to all councils

Herefordshire Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

This council declared a climate emergency on March 8, 2019.

Council only pledge for 2030

“Commit to an accelerated reduction of its own carbon emissions, with theaspirations to be carbon neutral by 2030; and to change its energy supply to 100%renewable source.”

Whole area pledge for 2030

“Work with strategic partners, residents and local organisations to develop a revised countywide carbon dioxide reduction strategy aspiring for carbon neutrality 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

Herefordshire Council was a top performer amongst single tier councils, in the Measuring and setting emissions targets section.

SectionHerefordshire CouncilAverage single tier council
Total score58%50%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
10/21
10.3/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
11/18
9.0/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
6/7
4.1/7
Section 4 Community, engagement and communications
8/9
5.1/9
Section 5 · Top performer Measuring and setting emissions targets
5/5
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
1/5
2.3/5
Section 9 Ecological emergency
3/4
2.1/4

Emissions data

905.6 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

4.7 tCO2

per person

0.4 ktCO2

per km2

34%

Transport

31%

Domestic

19%

Industry

9%

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 Herefordshire 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
Mendip District Council85%Yes2030Feb. 25, 2019
Shropshire Council - Unitary83%No2030May 16, 2019
Somerset County Council81%No2030Feb. 20, 2019
Forest of Dean District Council80%Yes2030Dec. 6, 2018
North Devon Council80%Yes2030July 24, 2019
Malvern Hills District Council79%Yes2030July 23, 2019
Devon County Council79%Yes2030Feb. 21, 2019
Somerset West and Taunton Council78%Yes2030Feb. 21, 2019
Dorset Council77%No2040May 16, 2019
South Holland District Council76%NoNo targetNo

These councils are the most similar to Herefordshire 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
North Devon Council84%Yes2030July 24, 2019
Shropshire Council - Unitary83%No2030May 16, 2019
Mid Devon District Council83%Yes2030June 26, 2019
Mendip District Council82%Yes2030Feb. 25, 2019
East Ayrshire Council82%No2030No
West Lindsey District Council81%Yes2050No
South Holland District Council81%NoNo targetNo
Northumberland Council80%Yes2030June 11, 2019
Angus Council79%YesNo targetSept. 5, 2019
Devon County Council78%Yes2030Feb. 21, 2019
Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Monmouthshire County Council93%Yes2030May 16, 2019
Forest of Dean District Council93%Yes2030Dec. 6, 2018
Malvern Hills District Council92%Yes2030July 23, 2019
Torfaen County Borough Council90%YesNo targetJune 25, 2019
Worcester City Council90%Yes2030July 16, 2019
Wyre Forest District Council90%YesNo targetMay 22, 2019
Shropshire Council - Unitary90%No2030May 16, 2019
Gloucester City Council89%Yes2030July 11, 2019
Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council89%Yes2030Sept. 28, 2020
Stroud District Council89%No2030Dec. 13, 2018

These councils are the most similar to Herefordshire 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
Gwynedd County Council98%No2030March 7, 2019
Somerset West and Taunton Council98%Yes2030Feb. 21, 2019
Isle of Anglesey County Council94%Yes2030Sept. 8, 2020
Pembrokeshire County Council94%Yes2030May 9, 2019
Forest of Dean District Council93%Yes2030Dec. 6, 2018
Breckland District Council93%Yes2035Sept. 19, 2019
Dumfries and Galloway Council92%Yes2025June 27, 2019
South Holland District Council91%NoNo targetNo
Boston Borough Council90%NoNo targetJan. 20, 2020
Isle of Wight Council90%No2030July 24, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Herefordshire 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
Malvern Hills District Council98%Yes2030July 23, 2019
Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council98%NoNo targetNo
Torridge District Council96%Yes2030July 1, 2019
Stirling Council88%YesNo targetOct. 3, 2019
Melton Borough Council86%No2030July 17, 2019
Mendip District Council86%Yes2030Feb. 25, 2019
King's Lynn and West Norfolk Borough Council85%Yes2050Feb. 4, 2020
Breckland District Council83%Yes2035Sept. 19, 2019
Carmarthenshire County Council82%Yes2030Feb. 20, 2019
Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council82%No2030May 2, 2020

Features

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

Powers & Responsibilities

Herefordshire 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 English local authority powers in the UK100 Power Shift report.

    More about this council

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

    What do you want from Climate Action Plans?

    Help us improve this page by answering our short survey about who uses this service, and what makes action plans useful to you.

    Open survey


    Don’t have time right now? Let us know your email address, and we’ll send you a link to the survey in a few days.

    Cite this page

    mySociety, Climate Emergency UK (2023). CAPE: Herefordshire Council. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/herefordshire-council/ [Accessed 1 Apr 2023].

    Alpha

    This is a new service – your feedback will help us improve it.