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North Ayrshire Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

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

Whole area pledge for 2030

“Agrees the proposed target year of 2030 to achieve net- zero emissions across North Ayrshire”

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

SectionNorth Ayrshire CouncilAverage single tier council
Total score37%50%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
9/21
10.3/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
6/18
9.0/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
3/7
4.1/7
Section 4 Community, engagement and communications
3/9
5.1/9
Section 5 Measuring and setting emissions targets
3/5
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
3/5
2.3/5
Section 9 Ecological emergency
2/4
2.1/4

Emissions reduction projects

Local authorities in Scotland are required to publish yearly data on their compliance with their climate change duties – including the emissions reduction projects they are undertaking.

See all of North Ayrshire Council’s projects

27

Projects

11.0 ktCO2 per year

Total annual emissions savings

£23,810,246

Total capital cost

Emissions data

681.0 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

5.1 tCO2

per person

0.8 ktCO2

per km2

31%

Industry

29%

Domestic

19%

Transport

17%

Commercial

2%

Public Sector

2%

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 North Ayrshire 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
Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council63%Yes2040Sept. 18, 2019
Barrow-in-Furness Borough Council60%No2037July 16, 2019
Staffordshire Moorlands District Council57%Yes2030July 10, 2019
St Helens Metropolitan Borough Council57%Yes2040June 10, 2019
Scarborough Borough Council57%No2030Jan. 7, 2019
Carlisle City Council56%No2030March 5, 2019
Wyre Council56%Yes2030July 11, 2019
Wrexham County Borough Council55%No2030Sept. 25, 2019
Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council55%No2040Sept. 19, 2019
Wakefield Metropolitan District Council54%Yes2030May 23, 2019

These councils are the most similar to North Ayrshire 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
King's Lynn and West Norfolk Borough Council68%Yes2050Feb. 4, 2020
Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council63%Yes2040Sept. 18, 2019
Staffordshire Moorlands District Council59%Yes2030July 10, 2019
West Suffolk Council56%No2030Sept. 19, 2019
Scarborough Borough Council51%No2030Jan. 7, 2019
Barrow-in-Furness Borough Council50%No2037July 16, 2019
St Helens Metropolitan Borough Council50%Yes2040June 10, 2019
Broxtowe Borough Council50%Yes2027July 17, 2019
Rushcliffe Borough Council50%Yes2030March 7, 2019
Selby District Council48%Yes2030No
Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Inverclyde Council95%NoNo targetNo
Renfrewshire Council94%No2030June 27, 2019
South Ayrshire Council94%No2045No
West Dunbartonshire Council92%Yes2045May 29, 2019
East Renfrewshire Council92%No2040Aug. 13, 2020
East Ayrshire Council91%No2030No
Argyll and Bute Council91%Yes2045No
Glasgow City Council90%Yes2030May 16, 2019
East Dunbartonshire Council89%Yes2045No
Stirling Council88%YesNo targetOct. 3, 2019

These councils are the most similar to North Ayrshire 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
Redcar and Cleveland Council95%Yes2030March 28, 2019
Newport City Council94%Yes2030Nov. 23, 2021
South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority92%No2040Nov. 7, 2019
Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council91%No2030Oct. 30, 2019
West Yorkshire Combined Authority91%No2038June 27, 2019
Darlington Borough Council91%Yes2050July 18, 2019
North East Lincolnshire Council91%Yes2050Sept. 19, 2019
Tees Valley Combined Authority90%NoNo targetNo
Barrow-in-Furness Borough Council90%No2037July 16, 2019
Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council89%No2040Sept. 19, 2019

These councils are the most similar to North Ayrshire 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
Wrexham County Borough Council99%No2030Sept. 25, 2019
Wyre Council97%Yes2030July 11, 2019
Lichfield District Council97%NoNo targetDec. 10, 2019
Conwy County Borough Council97%No2030May 9, 2019
Leicestershire County Council97%No2030May 15, 2019
New Forest District Council96%NoNo targetNov. 6, 2021
Nottinghamshire County Council96%No2030May 27, 2021
Brentwood Borough Council95%No2040No
Chorley Council95%Yes2030Nov. 19, 2019
Epping Forest District Council95%Yes2030Sept. 19, 2019

Features

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

Powers & Responsibilities

North Ayrshire 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 local authority powers across the UK, at The Institute for Government.

    More about this council

    north-ayrshire.gov.uk
    North Ayrshire Council’s official homepage.
    @North_Ayrshire
    North Ayrshire Council’s Twitter account.
    Tyndall Centre Carbon Budget report
    Check North Ayrshire Council’s ‘carbon budget’ – their share towards meeting the UK’s Paris agreement targets.

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    Cite this page

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

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