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Redcar and Cleveland Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

This council declared a climate emergency on March 28, 2019.

Whole area pledge for 2030

“A motion passed by councillors in March declared a climate emergency and committed to attempting to make the Borough carbon neutral by 2030.”

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

SectionRedcar and Cleveland CouncilAverage single tier council
Total score40%50%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
13/21
10.3/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
7/18
9.0/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
4/7
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
1/4
2.2/4
Section 7 Diversity and inclusion
1/5
0.9/5
Section 8 Education, skills and training
1/5
2.3/5
Section 9 Ecological emergency
0/4
2.1/4

Emissions data

781.1 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

5.7 tCO2

per person

3.1 ktCO2

per km2

43%

Industry

26%

Domestic

23%

Transport

6%

Commercial

2%

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 Redcar and Cleveland 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
Barrow-in-Furness Borough Council77%No2037July 16, 2019
High Peak Borough Council71%Yes2030Oct. 15, 2019
North East Lincolnshire Council69%Yes2050Sept. 19, 2019
Selby District Council62%Yes2030No
North Lincolnshire Council60%Yes2030No
Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council60%NoNo targetSept. 28, 2022
Hartlepool Borough Council59%NoNo targetNo
Wyre Council59%Yes2030July 11, 2019
Fenland District Council58%NoNo targetNo
Tees Valley Combined Authority58%NoNo targetNo

These councils are the most similar to Redcar and Cleveland 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
High Peak Borough Council76%Yes2030Oct. 15, 2019
Barrow-in-Furness Borough Council72%No2037July 16, 2019
Selby District Council70%Yes2030No
North East Lincolnshire Council65%Yes2050Sept. 19, 2019
Fenland District Council57%NoNo targetNo
Hartlepool Borough Council55%NoNo targetNo
Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council55%NoNo targetSept. 28, 2022
Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council53%NoNo targetNo
Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council52%Yes2030Sept. 28, 2020
Rutland County Council50%No2050No
Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Middlesbrough Borough Council97%No2029Sept. 4, 2019
Tees Valley Combined Authority96%NoNo targetNo
Hartlepool Borough Council95%NoNo targetNo
Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council95%YesNo targetNo
Ryedale District Council93%No2050Oct. 10, 2019
Hambleton District Council93%No2034Dec. 14, 2021
Scarborough Borough Council92%No2030Jan. 7, 2019
Darlington Borough Council91%Yes2050July 18, 2019
Sunderland City Council90%Yes2030March 27, 2019
South Tyneside Council89%No2030July 18, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Redcar and Cleveland 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
South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority97%No2040Nov. 7, 2019
Newport City Council97%Yes2030Nov. 23, 2021
Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council96%No2030Oct. 30, 2019
West Yorkshire Combined Authority95%No2038June 27, 2019
North Ayrshire Council94%No2030June 25, 2019
Barrow-in-Furness Borough Council94%No2037July 16, 2019
Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council94%No2040Sept. 19, 2019
Pendle Borough Council92%Yes2030July 11, 2019
Peterborough City Council91%Yes2030July 24, 2019
Mansfield District Council91%No2040March 5, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Redcar and Cleveland 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
Great Yarmouth Borough Council95%NoNo targetNo
Barrow-in-Furness Borough Council92%No2037July 16, 2019
Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council91%Yes2050No
Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council89%Yes2030July 9, 2019
Central Bedfordshire Council88%No2030July 19, 2019
North Northamptonshire Council88%Yes2030July 28, 2021
Tandridge District Council87%Yes2030Feb. 13, 2020
South Staffordshire Council87%YesNo targetSept. 10, 2019
Isle of Wight Council86%No2030July 24, 2019
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority86%Yes2050No

Powers & Responsibilities

Redcar and Cleveland 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

    redcar-cleveland.gov.uk
    Redcar and Cleveland Council’s official homepage.
    Tyndall Centre Carbon Budget report
    Check Redcar and Cleveland 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 Redcar and Cleveland Council’s climate performance, and actions you can take.

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    Cite this page

    mySociety, Climate Emergency UK (2023). CAPE: Redcar and Cleveland Council. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/redcar-and-cleveland-council/ [Accessed 26 Mar 2023].

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