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King's Lynn and West Norfolk Borough Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

This council declared a climate emergency on Feb. 4, 2020.

Council only pledge for 2050

“In line with our climate change policy, we aim to reach net zero by 2050, and have an agreed phased approach to our work.”

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

SectionKing's Lynn and West Norfolk Borough Co…Average district council
Total score26%43%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
8/21
9.4/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
2/18
8.1/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
1/7
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
0/4
1.9/4
Section 7 Diversity and inclusion
0/5
0.5/5
Section 8 Education, skills and training
1/5
1.5/5
Section 9 Ecological emergency
0/4
1.8/4

Emissions data

1000.3 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

6.6 tCO2

per person

0.7 ktCO2

per km2

32%

Transport

28%

Industry

23%

Domestic

14%

Commercial

2%

Agriculture

1%

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 King's Lynn and West Norfolk 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
West Suffolk Council67%No2030Sept. 19, 2019
Rother District Council63%No2030Sept. 16, 2019
Scarborough Borough Council58%No2030Jan. 7, 2019
Staffordshire Moorlands District Council57%Yes2030July 10, 2019
Norfolk County Council57%No2030No
East Lindsey District Council56%Yes2040No
North Norfolk District Council56%Yes2030April 24, 2019
Fenland District Council55%NoNo targetNo
South Holland District Council55%NoNo targetNo
Selby District Council54%Yes2030No

These councils are the most similar to King's Lynn and West Norfolk 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
North Ayrshire Council67%No2030June 25, 2019
Staffordshire Moorlands District Council65%Yes2030July 10, 2019
West Suffolk Council64%No2030Sept. 19, 2019
Selby District Council61%Yes2030No
Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council59%Yes2040Sept. 18, 2019
Rushcliffe Borough Council57%Yes2030March 7, 2019
Rother District Council55%No2030Sept. 16, 2019
Wrexham County Borough Council52%No2030Sept. 25, 2019
Scarborough Borough Council52%No2030Jan. 7, 2019
South Hams District Council50%Yes2030July 25, 2019
Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Breckland District Council95%Yes2035Sept. 19, 2019
East Cambridgeshire District Council94%Yes2050Oct. 17, 2019
Fenland District Council94%NoNo targetNo
Norfolk County Council94%No2030No
West Suffolk Council93%No2030Sept. 19, 2019
South Holland District Council93%NoNo targetNo
Boston Borough Council92%NoNo targetJan. 20, 2020
Cambridgeshire County Council92%Yes2050May 14, 2019
Suffolk County Council91%Yes2030March 21, 2019
Cambridge City Council91%Yes2030Feb. 21, 2019

These councils are the most similar to King's Lynn and West Norfolk 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
Cornwall Council (Unitary)95%Yes2030Jan. 22, 2019
Carmarthenshire County Council92%Yes2030Feb. 20, 2019
Fenland District Council90%NoNo targetNo
Isle of Wight Council90%No2030July 24, 2019
Boston Borough Council90%NoNo targetJan. 20, 2020
Bolsover District Council89%YesNo targetNo
Torridge District Council87%Yes2030July 1, 2019
Pembrokeshire County Council86%Yes2030May 9, 2019
Ceredigion County Council84%Yes2030March 5, 2020
Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council83%NoNo targetNo

These councils are the most similar to King's Lynn and West Norfolk 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
Breckland District Council97%Yes2035Sept. 19, 2019
The Moray Council93%Yes2030June 27, 2019
Wychavon District Council93%Yes2050No
Carmarthenshire County Council90%Yes2030Feb. 20, 2019
Forest of Dean District Council90%Yes2030Dec. 6, 2018
North Yorkshire County Council90%Yes2030No
East Lindsey District Council90%Yes2040No
Shropshire Council - Unitary88%No2030May 16, 2019
East Devon District Council88%Yes2040July 24, 2019
South Holland District Council88%NoNo targetNo

Powers & Responsibilities

King's Lynn and West Norfolk 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

    west-norfolk.gov.uk
    King's Lynn and West Norfolk Borough Council’s official homepage.
    Tyndall Centre Carbon Budget report
    Check King's Lynn and West Norfolk 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 King's Lynn and West Norfolk Borough Council’s climate performance, and actions you can take.

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    Cite this page

    mySociety, Climate Emergency UK (2023). CAPE: King's Lynn and West Norfolk Borough Council. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/kings-lynn-and-west-norfolk-borough-council/ [Accessed 26 Mar 2023].

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