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Spelthorne Borough Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

This council declared a climate emergency on Oct. 14, 2020.

Whole area pledge for 2050

“To develop an action plan to deliver our target of carbon neutrality by 2050, by the end of March 2020 (building on the existing sustainability strategy).”

Climate documents

Last update: Jan. 24, 2023
Climate Change Strategy 2022-2030

Climate Strategy · PDF · Approved · Whole Area

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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

Spelthorne Borough Council scored zero points in this assessment. This is because the council either didn’t have any published plans at the time of the assessment, or the plans didn’t qualify.

SectionSpelthorne Borough CouncilAverage district council
Total score0%43%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
0/21
9.4/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
0/18
8.1/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
0/7
3.8/7
Section 4 Community, engagement and communications
0/9
4.7/9
Section 5 Measuring and setting emissions targets
0/5
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

296.4 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

3.0 tCO2

per person

5.8 ktCO2

per km2

45%

Domestic

32%

Transport

9%

Commercial

8%

Industry

4%

Public Sector

0%

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 Spelthorne 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
London Borough of Havering92%YesNo targetNo
Rushmoor Borough Council90%Yes2030June 20, 2019
Adur District Council87%Yes2030July 18, 2019
Castle Point Borough Council87%NoNo targetNo
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Borough Council86%Yes2030July 16, 2019
Worthing Borough Council86%YesJuly 18, 2019
London Borough of Bromley84%Yes2027No
Hertfordshire County Council84%Yes2030July 16, 2019
Milton Keynes83%Yes2030Jan. 23, 2019
London Borough of Barnet83%NoNo targetMay 24, 2022

These councils are the most similar to Spelthorne 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
Fareham Borough Council92%Yes2030Oct. 24, 2019
London Borough of Havering92%YesNo targetNo
Wokingham Borough Council91%Yes2030July 18, 2019
London Borough of Richmond upon Thames91%Yes2030July 9, 2019
Maidstone Borough Council91%Yes2030April 10, 2019
London Borough of Bromley90%Yes2027No
Havant Borough Council90%Yes2050No
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Borough Council90%Yes2030July 16, 2019
Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council89%No2030Dec. 4, 2019
London Borough of Croydon89%YesNo targetJuly 15, 2019

Read more about how we calculate this.

Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Runnymede Borough Council99%NoNo targetOct. 17, 2019
Surrey County Council99%Yes2030July 9, 2019
Elmbridge Borough Council99%No2030July 17, 2019
London Borough of Hounslow98%Yes2030No
London Borough of Hillingdon98%Yes2030Jan. 16, 2020
Woking Borough Council98%Yes2030July 25, 2019
Slough Borough Council98%YesNo targetNo
London Borough of Richmond upon Thames98%Yes2030July 9, 2019
London Borough of Ealing98%Yes2030April 2, 2019
Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames97%Yes2038June 25, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Spelthorne 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
Rushmoor Borough Council91%Yes2030June 20, 2019
Adur District Council91%Yes2030July 18, 2019
London Borough of Havering90%YesNo targetNo
Castle Point Borough Council89%NoNo targetNo
Welwyn Hatfield Council89%Yes2030June 19, 2019
Hertsmere Borough Council88%Yes2050Sept. 18, 2019
Gedling Borough Council88%Yes2030Nov. 20, 2019
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Borough Council86%Yes2030July 16, 2019
Exeter City Council85%Yes2030July 23, 2019
South Ribble Borough Council85%Yes2030July 24, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Spelthorne 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
Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council100%No2038Feb. 24, 2020
Torbay Council100%Yes2030June 19, 2019
London Borough of Havering99%YesNo targetNo
Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council99%Yes2038Nov. 28, 2018
Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council99%No2030March 28, 2019
Greater Manchester Combined Authority99%No2038July 26, 2019
Eastbourne Borough Council99%Yes2030July 10, 2019
South Tyneside Council99%No2030July 18, 2019
Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council99%Yes2030Aug. 29, 2019
Oadby and Wigston Borough Council99%No2030No

Powers & Responsibilities

Spelthorne 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

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

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    Cite this page

    mySociety, Climate Emergency UK (2023). CAPE: Spelthorne Borough Council. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/spelthorne-borough-council/ [Accessed 2 Apr 2023].

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