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Sevenoaks District Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

We don’t think this council has declared a climate emergency – let us know if it has!

Council only pledge for 2030

“We have committed to achieving net zero carbon by 2030. This means that we have pledged to reach net zero carbon emissions produced by the Council and our assets 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

SectionSevenoaks District CouncilAverage district council
Total score54%43%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
10/21
9.4/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
14/18
8.1/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
5/7
3.8/7
Section 4 Community, engagement and communications
6/9
4.7/9
Section 5 Measuring and setting emissions targets
2/5
2.6/5
Section 6 Co-benefits
4/4
1.9/4
Section 7 Diversity and inclusion
1/5
0.5/5
Section 8 Education, skills and training
0/5
1.5/5
Section 9 Ecological emergency
3/4
1.8/4

Emissions data

418.9 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

3.5 tCO2

per person

1.1 ktCO2

per km2

47%

Domestic

34%

Transport

7%

Industry

6%

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 Sevenoaks District 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
Tandridge District Council89%Yes2030Feb. 13, 2020
Buckinghamshire Council88%No2050No
Tunbridge Wells Borough Council88%Yes2030July 17, 2019
Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council85%Yes2030July 9, 2019
Wealden District Council84%Yes2050July 24, 2019
Central Bedfordshire Council81%No2030July 19, 2019
South Oxfordshire District Council81%Yes2025April 11, 2019
Mole Valley District Council81%No2030June 18, 2019
Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council80%Yes2025July 18, 2019
Broadland District Council79%No2050No

These councils are the most similar to Sevenoaks District 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
Buckinghamshire Council90%No2050No
Tandridge District Council89%Yes2030Feb. 13, 2020
St Albans City and District Council87%No2030July 9, 2019
Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead87%No2050June 26, 2019
Three Rivers District Council86%No2030May 21, 2019
Surrey Heath Borough Council86%Yes2030Oct. 9, 2019
East Renfrewshire Council85%No2040Aug. 13, 2020
Elmbridge Borough Council85%No2030July 17, 2019
Reigate & Banstead Borough Council85%Yes2030No
Surrey County Council84%Yes2030July 9, 2019
Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
London Borough of Bromley98%Yes2027No
Dartford Borough Council98%NoNo targetOct. 7, 2019
Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council98%Yes2030July 9, 2019
London Borough of Bexley97%NoNo targetNo
Tandridge District Council97%Yes2030Feb. 13, 2020
Royal Borough of Greenwich97%Yes2030June 26, 2019
Gravesham Borough Council97%No2030June 26, 2019
Kent County Council97%Yes2030May 23, 2019
London Borough of Lewisham97%Yes2030Feb. 27, 2019
London Borough of Croydon96%YesNo targetJuly 15, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Sevenoaks District 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
Lichfield District Council98%NoNo targetDec. 10, 2019
Test Valley Borough Council98%Yes2050Sept. 4, 2019
Wealden District Council98%Yes2050July 24, 2019
Leicestershire County Council98%No2030May 15, 2019
Hampshire County Council97%No2050June 17, 2019
Chelmsford City Council97%Yes2030July 16, 2019
Craven District Council97%No2030Aug. 6, 2019
Bath and North East Somerset Council97%Yes2030March 14, 2019
North Hertfordshire District Council97%Yes2030May 21, 2019
Perth and Kinross Council97%No2045No

These councils are the most similar to Sevenoaks District 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
East Riding of Yorkshire Council97%No2050Feb. 24, 2021
Ards and North Down Borough Council96%NoNo targetFeb. 27, 2019
West Lancashire Borough Council96%Yes2030July 17, 2019
South Oxfordshire District Council94%Yes2025April 11, 2019
Vale of White Horse District Council94%Yes2045Feb. 13, 2019
Northumberland Council94%Yes2030June 11, 2019
Folkestone and Hythe District Council93%Yes2030July 24, 2019
West Suffolk Council93%No2030Sept. 19, 2019
Tunbridge Wells Borough Council93%Yes2030July 17, 2019
Braintree District Council93%Yes2030July 22, 2019

Features

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

Powers & Responsibilities

Sevenoaks District 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

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

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    Cite this page

    mySociety, Climate Emergency UK (2023). CAPE: Sevenoaks District Council. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/sevenoaks-district-council/ [Accessed 22 Mar 2023].

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