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Somerset Council

New council

This council was created in April 1, 2023. It may not have any specific plans yet. Plans and declarations may have been made by former councils.

This council replaced:

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

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

Climate pledges

We haven’t checked whether this council has made any climate pledges yet, but we will soon. If you’ve already found one, let us know!

Climate documents

We couldn’t find any climate action plans for this council.

These councils are the most similar to 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
Devon County Council91%Yes2030Feb. 21, 2019
Dorset Council87%No2040May 16, 2019
Wychavon District Council82%Yes2050No
Shropshire Council - Unitary81%No2030May 16, 2019
North Devon Council81%Yes2030July 24, 2019
Forest of Dean District Council79%Yes2030Dec. 6, 2018
Malvern Hills District Council79%Yes2030July 23, 2019
Herefordshire Council78%Yes2030March 8, 2019
Teignbridge District Council78%Yes2025April 18, 2019
Wiltshire Council77%No2030Feb. 26, 2019

These councils are the most similar to 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
Devon County Council89%Yes2030Feb. 21, 2019
Wiltshire Council87%No2030Feb. 26, 2019
Lincolnshire County Council86%Yes2050No
Dorset Council86%No2040May 16, 2019
Tewkesbury Borough Council83%Yes2030Oct. 1, 2019
Boston Borough Council83%NoNo targetJan. 20, 2020
South Staffordshire Council83%NoNo targetSept. 10, 2019
North Kesteven District Council83%No2030July 11, 2019
Vale of Glamorgan Council82%Yes2030July 29, 2019
Wychavon District Council82%Yes2050No
Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
North Somerset Council95%Yes2030Feb. 19, 2019
Bristol City Council94%No2025Nov. 13, 2018
Devon County Council93%Yes2030Feb. 21, 2019
Newport City Council92%Yes2030Nov. 23, 2021
Bath and North East Somerset Council92%Yes2030March 14, 2019
East Devon District Council92%Yes2040July 24, 2019
Cardiff Council92%Yes2030March 28, 2019
Vale of Glamorgan Council90%Yes2030July 29, 2019
South Gloucestershire Council90%Yes2030July 17, 2019
Torfaen County Borough Council90%NoNo targetJune 25, 2019

These councils are the most similar to 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
Shropshire Council - Unitary96%No2030May 16, 2019
Arun District Council94%No2030Jan. 15, 2020
Powys County Council93%No2030July 30, 2020
Devon County Council91%Yes2030Feb. 21, 2019
Ashford Borough Council91%Yes2030No
North Warwickshire Borough Council90%No2030Oct. 22, 2019
Mid Devon District Council90%Yes2030June 26, 2019
Argyll and Bute Council89%Yes2045Sept. 30, 2021
Suffolk County Council88%Yes2030March 21, 2019
West Suffolk Council88%No2030Sept. 19, 2019

These councils are the most similar to 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
Wiltshire Council99%No2030Feb. 26, 2019
Mid and East Antrim Borough Council96%NoNo targetSept. 9, 2019
Wealden District Council96%Yes2050July 24, 2019
Dorset Council96%No2040May 16, 2019
Carmarthenshire County Council95%Yes2030Feb. 20, 2019
Norfolk County Council95%No2030No
Monmouthshire County Council95%Yes2030May 16, 2019
Lincolnshire County Council94%Yes2050No
Bassetlaw District Council93%NoNo targetNo
Rother District Council92%No2030Sept. 16, 2019

Powers & Responsibilities

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

    Tyndall Centre Carbon Budget report
    Check 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 Somerset Council’s climate performance, and actions you can take.

    What do you want from Climate Action Plans?

    Help us improve this page by answering our short survey about who uses this service, and what makes action plans useful to you.

    Open survey


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    Cite this page

    mySociety, Climate Emergency UK (2023). CAPE: Somerset Council. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/somerset-council/ [Accessed 9 Jun 2023].

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