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Shropshire Council - Unitary

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

This council declared a climate emergency on May 16, 2019.

Whole area pledge for 2030

“Our vision is for Shropshire Council to become carbon net-neutral by 2030 and assist in the ambition for Shropshire as a whole to become carbon net-neutral in the same year.”

Climate documents

Last update: June 21, 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

SectionShropshire Council - UnitaryAverage single tier council
Total score53%50%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
12/21
10.3/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
9/18
9.0/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
5/7
4.1/7
Section 4 Community, engagement and communications
6/9
5.1/9
Section 5 Measuring and setting emissions targets
3/5
2.9/5
Section 6 Co-benefits
3/4
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
0/4
2.1/4

Emissions data

1463.9 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

4.5 tCO2

per person

0.5 ktCO2

per km2

37%

Transport

32%

Domestic

12%

Industry

10%

Agriculture

6%

Commercial

4%

Public Sector

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 Shropshire Council - Unitary 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
Devon County Council84%Yes2030Feb. 21, 2019
North Devon Council84%Yes2030July 24, 2019
Herefordshire Council82%Yes2030March 8, 2019
Somerset County Council82%No2030Feb. 20, 2019
Denbighshire County Council81%No2030July 2, 2019
Dorset Council81%No2040May 16, 2019
Wychavon District Council81%Yes2050No
South Somerset District Council81%Yes2023May 21, 2019
Mendip District Council79%Yes2030Feb. 25, 2019
Monmouthshire County Council79%Yes2030May 16, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Shropshire Council - Unitary 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
East Ayrshire Council85%No2030No
Herefordshire Council84%Yes2030March 8, 2019
North Devon Council83%Yes2030July 24, 2019
Gwynedd County Council83%No2030March 7, 2019
Inverclyde Council82%NoNo targetNo
West Lindsey District Council80%Yes2050No
Dorset Council80%No2040May 16, 2019
Angus Council78%YesNo targetSept. 5, 2019
Devon County Council78%Yes2030Feb. 21, 2019
Argyll and Bute Council77%Yes2045No
Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Telford & Wrekin Council95%Yes2030July 25, 2019
Wrexham County Borough Council91%No2030Sept. 25, 2019
Wyre Forest District Council89%YesNo targetMay 22, 2019
South Staffordshire Council89%YesNo targetSept. 10, 2019
Herefordshire Council89%Yes2030March 8, 2019
Newcastle-Under-Lyme District Council89%No2030April 3, 2019
Cheshire West and Chester Council88%Yes2030May 21, 2019
Stafford Borough Council88%No2040July 23, 2019
Malvern Hills District Council88%Yes2030July 23, 2019
Wolverhampton City Council88%No2028July 17, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Shropshire Council - Unitary 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 Somerset District Council97%Yes2023May 21, 2019
Mendip District Council97%Yes2030Feb. 25, 2019
Powys County Council97%No2030July 30, 2020
Somerset County Council95%No2030Feb. 20, 2019
Dumfries and Galloway Council94%Yes2025June 27, 2019
Devon County Council94%Yes2030Feb. 21, 2019
West Suffolk Council94%No2030Sept. 19, 2019
Midlothian Council94%No2030Dec. 17, 2019
Mid Devon District Council94%Yes2030June 26, 2019
Rother District Council93%No2030Sept. 16, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Shropshire Council - Unitary 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 Devon District Council98%Yes2040July 24, 2019
North Devon Council97%Yes2030July 24, 2019
North Yorkshire County Council96%Yes2030No
South Holland District Council96%NoNo targetNo
East Lindsey District Council96%Yes2040No
Cornwall Council (Unitary)95%Yes2030Jan. 22, 2019
Wychavon District Council95%Yes2050No
Rother District Council94%No2030Sept. 16, 2019
South Lakeland District Council94%Yes2030Feb. 26, 2019
Chichester District Council93%Yes2025July 9, 2019

Powers & Responsibilities

Shropshire Council - Unitary 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

    shropshire.gov.uk
    Shropshire Council - Unitary’s official homepage.
    Tyndall Centre Carbon Budget report
    Check Shropshire Council - Unitary’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 Shropshire Council - Unitary’s climate performance, and actions you can take.

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    Cite this page

    mySociety, Climate Emergency UK (2023). CAPE: Shropshire Council - Unitary. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/shropshire-council-unitary/ [Accessed 26 Mar 2023].

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