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North Somerset Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

This council declared a climate emergency on Feb. 19, 2019.

Whole area pledge for 2030

“North Somerset aims to be a carbon neutral council and a carbon neutral area by 2030”

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 Somerset CouncilAverage single tier council
Total score33%50%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
8/21
10.3/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
6/18
9.0/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
1/7
4.1/7
Section 4 Community, engagement and communications
3/9
5.1/9
Section 5 Measuring and setting emissions targets
4/5
2.9/5
Section 6 Co-benefits
1/4
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

778.1 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

3.6 tCO2

per person

2.0 ktCO2

per km2

36%

Domestic

34%

Transport

18%

Industry

7%

Commercial

3%

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 Somerset 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
South Gloucestershire Council88%Yes2030July 17, 2019
Vale of Glamorgan Council87%Yes2030July 29, 2019
Swindon Borough Council86%Yes2030No
Tewkesbury Borough Council84%Yes2030Oct. 1, 2019
Hampshire County Council84%No2050June 17, 2019
Worcestershire County Council83%Yes2030July 15, 2021
Bath and North East Somerset Council83%Yes2030March 14, 2019
Warrington Borough Council83%Yes2030June 7, 2019
Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council83%Yes2030Oct. 8, 2019
Charnwood Borough Council83%Yes2030No

These councils are the most similar to North Somerset 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
Central Bedfordshire Council93%No2030July 19, 2019
Wyre Forest District Council92%YesNo targetMay 22, 2019
Warrington Borough Council92%Yes2030June 7, 2019
Boston Borough Council90%NoNo targetJan. 20, 2020
Newcastle-Under-Lyme District Council90%No2030April 3, 2019
Arun District Council89%No2030Jan. 15, 2020
Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council89%No2030Dec. 4, 2019
Adur District Council88%Yes2030July 18, 2019
Kent County Council88%Yes2030May 23, 2019
Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council88%Yes2030Aug. 29, 2019
Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Bristol City Council99%Yes2025Nov. 13, 2018
Newport City Council96%Yes2030Nov. 23, 2021
Sedgemoor District Council96%Yes2030March 20, 2019
Somerset County Council95%No2030Feb. 20, 2019
Mendip District Council95%Yes2030Feb. 25, 2019
Bath and North East Somerset Council95%Yes2030March 14, 2019
South Gloucestershire Council94%Yes2030July 17, 2019
Devon County Council94%Yes2030Feb. 21, 2019
Monmouthshire County Council94%Yes2030May 16, 2019
Torfaen County Borough Council93%YesNo targetJune 25, 2019

These councils are the most similar to North Somerset 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
Stirling Council94%YesNo targetOct. 3, 2019
Vale of Glamorgan Council93%Yes2030July 29, 2019
Cheshire East Council (Unitary)93%Yes2025May 22, 2019
Cherwell District Council91%No2030July 22, 2019
Hampshire County Council91%No2050June 17, 2019
Bath and North East Somerset Council91%Yes2030March 14, 2019
Gloucestershire County Council90%Yes2030May 15, 2019
Perth and Kinross Council90%No2045No
Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council90%Yes2030July 9, 2019
Swindon Borough Council89%Yes2030No

These councils are the most similar to North Somerset 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
Mid Sussex District Council98%YesNo targetNo
North East Derbyshire District Council98%Yes2030July 8, 2019
Bromsgrove District Council98%YesNo targetJuly 24, 2019
North Hertfordshire District Council97%Yes2030May 21, 2019
Vale of Glamorgan Council96%Yes2030July 29, 2019
Bath and North East Somerset Council96%Yes2030March 14, 2019
North Lanarkshire Council95%Yes2030June 20, 2019
Cheshire East Council (Unitary)95%Yes2025May 22, 2019
South Gloucestershire Council95%Yes2030July 17, 2019
Newcastle-Under-Lyme District Council94%No2030April 3, 2019

Powers & Responsibilities

North Somerset 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

    n-somerset.gov.uk
    North Somerset Council’s official homepage.
    Tyndall Centre Carbon Budget report
    Check North Somerset 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 North Somerset Council’s climate performance, and actions you can take.

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    Cite this page

    mySociety, Climate Emergency UK (2023). CAPE: North Somerset Council. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/north-somerset-council/ [Accessed 22 Mar 2023].

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