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South Kesteven District Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

This council declared a climate emergency on Sept. 26, 2019.

Council only pledge for 2050

“SKDC, with cross-party support, declared a climate emergency in September 2019 when it pledged to reduce its carbon footprint by at least 30% by 2030 and become net-zero carbon as soon as viable before 2050.”

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

SectionSouth Kesteven District CouncilAverage district council
Total score14%43%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
6/21
9.4/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
0/18
8.1/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
2/7
3.8/7
Section 4 Community, engagement and communications
1/9
4.7/9
Section 5 Measuring and setting emissions targets
2/5
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
0/4
1.8/4

Emissions data

656.2 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

4.6 tCO2

per person

0.7 ktCO2

per km2

41%

Transport

31%

Domestic

16%

Industry

7%

Commercial

3%

Agriculture

2%

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 South Kesteven 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
Cherwell District Council86%No2030July 22, 2019
West Northamptonshire Council86%NoNo targetNo
Warwickshire County Council86%Yes2030July 25, 2019
Rugby Borough Council85%Yes2030July 18, 2019
Tewkesbury Borough Council85%Yes2030Oct. 1, 2019
Leicestershire County Council84%No2030May 15, 2019
Staffordshire County Council84%Yes2050July 25, 2019
North Northamptonshire Council83%Yes2030July 28, 2021
Test Valley Borough Council83%Yes2050Sept. 4, 2019
Lichfield District Council83%NoNo targetDec. 10, 2019

These councils are the most similar to South Kesteven 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
Norfolk County Council91%No2030No
North Northamptonshire Council88%Yes2030July 28, 2021
North Warwickshire Borough Council87%No2030Oct. 22, 2019
Rugby Borough Council86%Yes2030July 18, 2019
Test Valley Borough Council84%Yes2050Sept. 4, 2019
Suffolk County Council83%Yes2030March 21, 2019
Mid Suffolk District Council83%Yes2030July 25, 2019
Warwickshire County Council83%Yes2030July 25, 2019
Lincolnshire County Council83%Yes2050No
Staffordshire County Council83%Yes2050July 25, 2019
Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Lincolnshire County Council97%Yes2050No
Rutland County Council96%No2050No
North Kesteven District Council96%Yes2030July 11, 2019
Melton Borough Council95%No2030July 17, 2019
Peterborough City Council94%Yes2030July 24, 2019
City of Lincoln Council94%Yes2030July 23, 2019
North Northamptonshire Council93%Yes2030July 28, 2021
Lancashire County Council93%No2030Feb. 28, 2019
South Holland District Council92%NoNo targetNo
Newark and Sherwood District Council92%Yes2035July 16, 2019

These councils are the most similar to South Kesteven 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
Stafford Borough Council99%No2040July 23, 2019
North West Leicestershire District Council98%Yes2030June 25, 2019
Tewkesbury Borough Council98%Yes2030Oct. 1, 2019
Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council96%Yes2030July 9, 2019
Lichfield District Council96%NoNo targetDec. 10, 2019
Selby District Council96%Yes2030No
Cherwell District Council96%No2030July 22, 2019
Perth and Kinross Council96%No2045No
Cambridgeshire County Council96%Yes2050May 14, 2019
Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council96%Yes2025July 18, 2019

These councils are the most similar to South Kesteven 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
Gloucestershire County Council98%Yes2030May 15, 2019
East Hertfordshire District Council98%Yes2030No
Boston Borough Council97%NoNo targetJan. 20, 2020
Stafford Borough Council97%No2040July 23, 2019
Tewkesbury Borough Council96%Yes2030Oct. 1, 2019
Waverley Borough Council95%Yes2030Sept. 18, 2019
Scarborough Borough Council95%No2030Jan. 7, 2019
Bedford Borough Council95%Yes2030March 5, 2019
Worcestershire County Council94%Yes2030July 15, 2021
East Sussex County Council94%Yes2050Oct. 15, 2019

Powers & Responsibilities

South Kesteven 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

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

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    Cite this page

    mySociety, Climate Emergency UK (2023). CAPE: South Kesteven District Council. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/south-kesteven-district-council/ [Accessed 1 Apr 2023].

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