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Lancaster City Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

This council declared a climate emergency on Jan. 30, 2019.

Council only pledge for 2030

“Convenes a Citizens’ Assembly in 2019 in order to help identify how the Council’s activities might be made net-zero carbon by 2030.”

Whole area pledge for 2030

“To support and with all other relevant agencies towards making the Lancaster District Zero Carbon within the same timescale (2030).”

Climate documents

Last update: March 16, 2022
Carbon Zero+ Action Plan: Direct Operations

Action Plan · 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

SectionLancaster City CouncilAverage district council
Total score12%43%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
6/21
9.4/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
4/18
8.1/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
1/7
3.8/7
Section 4 Community, engagement and communications
0/9
4.7/9
Section 5 Measuring and setting emissions targets
0/5
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

535.5 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

3.6 tCO2

per person

0.8 ktCO2

per km2

37%

Domestic

32%

Transport

14%

Industry

6%

Public Sector

6%

Commercial

4%

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 Lancaster City 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
North of Tyne Combined Authority86%YesNo targetMay 7, 2019
Chorley Council84%Yes2030Nov. 19, 2019
West Lothian Council82%NoNo targetSept. 24, 2019
North East Combined Authority81%NoNo targetNov. 5, 2019
West Lancashire Borough Council80%Yes2030July 17, 2019
Worcestershire County Council80%Yes2030July 15, 2021
Newcastle-Under-Lyme District Council80%No2030April 3, 2019
Midlothian Council80%No2030Dec. 17, 2019
Wyre Forest District Council80%YesNo targetMay 22, 2019
Darlington Borough Council80%Yes2050July 18, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Lancaster City 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
Gloucestershire County Council90%Yes2030May 15, 2019
Ashford Borough Council89%Yes2030No
Vale of Glamorgan Council88%Yes2030July 29, 2019
West Lothian Council87%NoNo targetSept. 24, 2019
Folkestone and Hythe District Council87%Yes2030July 24, 2019
Swansea City Council87%No2030June 27, 2019
Charnwood Borough Council86%Yes2030No
North of Tyne Combined Authority86%YesNo targetMay 7, 2019
Stroud District Council85%No2030Dec. 13, 2018
Falkirk Council85%Yes2030Aug. 26, 2019

Read more about how we calculate this.

Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Wyre Council96%Yes2030July 11, 2019
South Lakeland District Council95%Yes2030Feb. 26, 2019
Preston City Council95%No2030April 18, 2019
Ribble Valley Borough Council94%No2030No
South Ribble Borough Council93%Yes2030July 24, 2019
Fylde Borough Council93%NoNo targetNo
Blackpool Borough Council92%Yes2030June 26, 2019
Chorley Council91%Yes2030Nov. 19, 2019
Hyndburn Borough Council91%No2030Sept. 19, 2019
Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council91%Yes2030July 18, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Lancaster City 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
Northumberland Council97%Yes2030June 11, 2019
Wyre Forest District Council97%YesNo targetMay 22, 2019
Bassetlaw District Council97%NoNo targetNo
Telford & Wrekin Council96%Yes2030July 25, 2019
North Lincolnshire Council95%Yes2030No
Bridgend County Borough Council94%No2030July 22, 2022
Sedgemoor District Council94%Yes2030March 20, 2019
Swansea City Council93%No2030June 27, 2019
Gravesham Borough Council93%No2030June 26, 2019
South Lanarkshire Council92%NoNo targetSept. 25, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Lancaster City 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
Flintshire County Council98%YesNo targetNo
High Peak Borough Council98%Yes2030Oct. 15, 2019
Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council97%Yes2025July 18, 2019
Epping Forest District Council97%Yes2030Sept. 19, 2019
Kent County Council97%Yes2030May 23, 2019
New Forest District Council97%NoNo targetNov. 6, 2021
Maidstone Borough Council96%Yes2030April 10, 2019
Derbyshire County Council96%Yes2032No
Chorley Council96%Yes2030Nov. 19, 2019
Cheshire West and Chester Council95%Yes2030May 21, 2019

Powers & Responsibilities

Lancaster City 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

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

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    Cite this page

    mySociety, Climate Emergency UK (2023). CAPE: Lancaster City Council. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/lancaster-city-council/ [Accessed 2 Apr 2023].

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