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Rossendale Borough Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

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

Council only pledge for 2030

“Working towards making the council’s activities net-zero carbon by 2030.”

Climate documents

Last update: March 16, 2022
2020-2030 Climate Change Strategy

Climate Strategy · PDF · Council Only

Rossendale Borough Council Meeting Minutes

PDF · We no longer hold a copy of this document

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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

SectionRossendale Borough CouncilAverage district council
Total score16%43%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
5/21
9.4/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
3/18
8.1/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
1/7
3.8/7
Section 4 Community, engagement and communications
3/9
4.7/9
Section 5 Measuring and setting emissions targets
1/5
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
0/5
1.5/5
Section 9 Ecological emergency
1/4
1.8/4

Emissions data

320.1 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

4.5 tCO2

per person

2.3 ktCO2

per km2

36%

Transport

34%

Domestic

23%

Industry

3%

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 Rossendale Borough 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
Amber Valley Borough Council80%Yes2030July 24, 2019
North East Derbyshire District Council80%Yes2030July 8, 2019
South Ribble Borough Council79%Yes2030July 24, 2019
Darlington Borough Council78%Yes2050July 18, 2019
Derbyshire County Council78%Yes2032No
Newcastle-Under-Lyme District Council78%No2030April 3, 2019
Telford & Wrekin Council77%Yes2030July 25, 2019
Flintshire County Council77%YesNo targetNo
Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council77%Yes2038Jan. 30, 2019
Gateshead Metropolitan Borough Council76%Yes2030May 23, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Rossendale Borough 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
North Lincolnshire Council91%Yes2030No
Flintshire County Council84%YesNo targetNo
Derbyshire County Council81%Yes2032No
Stirling Council80%YesNo targetOct. 3, 2019
Amber Valley Borough Council80%Yes2030July 24, 2019
Fife Council80%Yes2045Sept. 26, 2019
North East Derbyshire District Council80%Yes2030July 8, 2019
Fenland District Council79%NoNo targetNo
South Ribble Borough Council78%Yes2030July 24, 2019
South Staffordshire Council76%YesNo targetSept. 10, 2019

Read more about how we calculate this.

Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Burnley Borough Council98%Yes2030July 10, 2019
Bury Metropolitan Borough Council97%Yes2038July 10, 2019
Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council97%Yes2038July 17, 2019
Hyndburn Borough Council97%No2030Sept. 19, 2019
Greater Manchester Combined Authority96%No2038July 26, 2019
Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council96%Yes2030July 18, 2019
Pendle Borough Council96%Yes2030July 11, 2019
Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council95%Yes2030Aug. 29, 2019
Salford City Council95%No2038July 17, 2019
Manchester City Council95%Yes2038July 10, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Rossendale Borough 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
Norfolk County Council96%No2030No
Allerdale Borough Council94%Yes2030Sept. 25, 2019
Denbighshire County Council94%No2030July 2, 2019
Dover District Council93%Yes2030Nov. 4, 2019
Folkestone and Hythe District Council92%Yes2030July 24, 2019
North Devon Council92%Yes2030July 24, 2019
Rother District Council91%No2030Sept. 16, 2019
Wrexham County Borough Council90%No2030Sept. 25, 2019
Conwy County Borough Council90%No2030May 9, 2019
Thurrock Council90%No2022Oct. 23, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Rossendale Borough 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
Burnley Borough Council97%Yes2030July 10, 2019
West Dunbartonshire Council96%Yes2045May 29, 2019
Three Rivers District Council95%No2030May 21, 2019
Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council95%Yes2030July 18, 2019
Reigate & Banstead Borough Council95%Yes2030No
South Ribble Borough Council94%Yes2030July 24, 2019
Erewash Borough Council94%No2050No
South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority94%No2040Nov. 7, 2019
Hartlepool Borough Council94%NoNo targetNo
Bracknell Forest Council94%Yes2050No

Powers & Responsibilities

Rossendale Borough 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

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

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    Cite this page

    mySociety, Climate Emergency UK (2023). CAPE: Rossendale Borough Council. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/rossendale-borough-council/ [Accessed 22 Mar 2023].

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