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Medway Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

This council declared a climate emergency on April 25, 2019.

Council only pledge for 2050

“We will set organisational five-year carbon budgets and an emissions reduction pathway to 2050, with significant reduction by 2030.”

Whole area pledge for 2050

“The objective of the KMELES is to outline a joint Kent and Medway approach to achieving a reduction in carbon emissions and improvements in air quality, with an agreed Kent and Medway target of net zero emissions by 2050.”

Climate documents

Last update: Dec. 5, 2022
Climate Change Action Plan Refresh 2022

Action Plan · DOCX · Approved · Whole Area

Show more action plan documents
Climate Change Action Plan Summary

Action Plan · PDF · We no longer hold a copy of this document

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

Medway Council was a top performer amongst single tier councils, in two sections including Measuring and setting emissions targets.

SectionMedway CouncilAverage single tier council
Total score71%50%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
14/21
10.3/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
13/18
9.0/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
5/7
4.1/7
Section 4 Community, engagement and communications
7/9
5.1/9
Section 5 · Top performer Measuring and setting emissions targets
5/5
2.9/5
Section 6 Co-benefits
4/4
2.2/4
Section 7 Diversity and inclusion
0/5
0.9/5
Section 8 · Top performer Education, skills and training
5/5
2.3/5
Section 9 Ecological emergency
2/4
2.1/4

Emissions data

709.6 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

2.5 tCO2

per person

2.6 ktCO2

per km2

47%

Domestic

30%

Transport

14%

Industry

5%

Commercial

4%

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 Medway 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
London Borough of Havering83%YesNo targetNo
Worthing Borough Council81%YesJuly 18, 2019
Ipswich Borough Council81%Yes2030July 9, 2019
Havant Borough Council80%Yes2050No
Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council80%No2030Dec. 4, 2019
Maidstone Borough Council80%Yes2030April 10, 2019
Tamworth Borough Council80%No2050Oct. 19, 2019
Arun District Council79%No2030Jan. 15, 2020
London Borough of Enfield79%No2030July 8, 2019
Kent County Council78%Yes2030May 23, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Medway 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
Eastleigh Borough Council92%Yes2025July 18, 2019
Havant Borough Council92%Yes2050No
Redditch Borough Council90%No2050Sept. 23, 2019
Worthing Borough Council90%YesJuly 18, 2019
Fareham Borough Council90%Yes2030Oct. 24, 2019
Tamworth Borough Council89%No2050Oct. 19, 2019
London Borough of Havering89%YesNo targetNo
Luton Borough Council87%Yes2040Jan. 13, 2020
London Borough of Redbridge87%Yes2050June 20, 2019
Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council87%Yes2050Sept. 16, 2019
Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Castle Point Borough Council99%NoNo targetNo
Gravesham Borough Council98%No2030June 26, 2019
Southend-on-Sea Borough Council98%No2030July 18, 2019
Maidstone Borough Council98%Yes2030April 10, 2019
Basildon Borough Council97%Yes2030No
Thurrock Council97%No2022Oct. 23, 2019
Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council97%Yes2030July 9, 2019
Swale Borough Council97%Yes2025June 26, 2019
Essex County Council96%Yes2030No
Rochford District Council96%Yes2030No

These councils are the most similar to Medway 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
Basildon Borough Council95%Yes2030No
Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council94%No2030Dec. 4, 2019
Gravesham Borough Council91%No2030June 26, 2019
Bury Metropolitan Borough Council91%Yes2038July 10, 2019
Telford & Wrekin Council90%Yes2030July 25, 2019
Chesterfield Borough Council90%Yes2030July 17, 2019
Wyre Forest District Council90%YesNo targetMay 22, 2019
Dover District Council89%Yes2030Nov. 4, 2019
Torfaen County Borough Council88%YesNo targetJune 25, 2019
Tamworth Borough Council88%No2050Oct. 19, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Medway 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
Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council98%Yes2030Oct. 8, 2019
Dartford Borough Council98%NoNo targetOct. 7, 2019
Cannock Chase District Council98%No2030July 17, 2019
Warrington Borough Council97%Yes2030June 7, 2019
Kirklees Council97%Yes2038Jan. 16, 2019
West Yorkshire Combined Authority96%No2038June 27, 2019
Eastleigh Borough Council96%Yes2025July 18, 2019
Swindon Borough Council96%Yes2030No
Hyndburn Borough Council95%No2030Sept. 19, 2019
Gateshead Metropolitan Borough Council95%Yes2030May 23, 2019

Features

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

Powers & Responsibilities

Medway 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

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

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    Cite this page

    mySociety, Climate Emergency UK (2023). CAPE: Medway Council. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/medway-council/ [Accessed 24 Mar 2023].

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