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Surrey Heath Borough Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

This council declared a climate emergency on Oct. 9, 2019.

Council only pledge for 2030

“On the 9 October 2019 the Council declared a Climate Emergency and pledged to become carbon neutral by 2030 across its own estate and operations, including contractors used, and support the actions being taken by Surrey County Council in this area. ”

Whole area pledge for 2050

“The Council has produced a Climate Change Action Plan to work towards achieving the ambitious net-zero carbon emission target by 2030 as an organisation and contribute to making the Borough net zero by 2050 (with the aspiration for net zero by 2030).”

Climate documents

Last update: Sept. 27, 2021
Surrey Heath Borough Council Action Plan

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

SectionSurrey Heath Borough CouncilAverage district council
Total score63%43%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
12/21
9.4/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
17/18
8.1/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
6/7
3.8/7
Section 4 Community, engagement and communications
6/9
4.7/9
Section 5 Measuring and setting emissions targets
3/5
2.6/5
Section 6 Co-benefits
2/4
1.9/4
Section 7 Diversity and inclusion
0/5
0.5/5
Section 8 Education, skills and training
3/5
1.5/5
Section 9 Ecological emergency
2/4
1.8/4

Emissions data

364.4 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

4.1 tCO2

per person

3.8 ktCO2

per km2

39%

Domestic

33%

Transport

14%

Industry

10%

Commercial

4%

Public Sector

1%

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 Surrey Heath 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
Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead91%No2050June 26, 2019
Surrey County Council90%Yes2030July 9, 2019
St Albans City and District Council90%No2030July 9, 2019
Buckinghamshire Council86%No2050No
Mid Sussex District Council86%YesNo targetNo
Tandridge District Council85%Yes2030Feb. 13, 2020
Elmbridge Borough Council85%No2030July 17, 2019
Reigate & Banstead Borough Council84%Yes2030No
Three Rivers District Council84%No2030May 21, 2019
Hampshire County Council84%No2050June 17, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Surrey Heath 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
Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead93%No2050June 26, 2019
Buckinghamshire Council92%No2050No
Surrey County Council91%Yes2030July 9, 2019
Hertsmere Borough Council90%Yes2050Sept. 18, 2019
Tandridge District Council89%Yes2030Feb. 13, 2020
St Albans City and District Council88%No2030July 9, 2019
North East Combined Authority87%NoNo targetNov. 5, 2019
Hart District Council87%Yes2040Sept. 1, 2019
Tunbridge Wells Borough Council87%Yes2030July 17, 2019
Cheshire East Council (Unitary)86%Yes2025May 22, 2019

Read more about how we calculate this.

Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Bracknell Forest Council99%Yes2050No
Hertfordshire County Council98%Yes2030July 16, 2019
Woking Borough Council98%Yes2030July 25, 2019
Rushmoor Borough Council98%Yes2030June 20, 2019
Surrey County Council98%Yes2030July 9, 2019
Runnymede Borough Council98%NoNo targetOct. 17, 2019
Guildford Borough Council98%Yes2030July 23, 2019
Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead98%No2050June 26, 2019
Slough Borough Council97%YesNo targetNo
Waverley Borough Council97%Yes2030Sept. 18, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Surrey Heath 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
Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead98%No2050June 26, 2019
St Albans City and District Council98%No2030July 9, 2019
Guildford Borough Council95%Yes2030July 23, 2019
Elmbridge Borough Council95%No2030July 17, 2019
Stroud District Council95%No2030Dec. 13, 2018
Fareham Borough Council95%Yes2030Oct. 24, 2019
East Renfrewshire Council95%No2040Aug. 13, 2020
Winchester City Council94%Yes2024June 5, 2019
Surrey County Council94%Yes2030July 9, 2019
West Berkshire Council94%No2030July 2, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Surrey Heath 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
Inverclyde Council96%NoNo targetNo
Wakefield Metropolitan District Council95%Yes2030May 23, 2019
Mansfield District Council95%No2040March 5, 2019
Gedling Borough Council95%Yes2030Nov. 20, 2019
Hertsmere Borough Council95%Yes2050Sept. 18, 2019
City of York Council95%Yes2030March 11, 2019
Thurrock Council95%No2022Oct. 23, 2019
Fylde Borough Council93%NoNo targetNo
Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council93%Yes2030No
Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council93%Yes2030Sept. 28, 2020

Features

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

Comprehensive plan for mitigation Integrated with Local Plan Clear communication

Powers & Responsibilities

Surrey Heath 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

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

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    Cite this page

    mySociety, Climate Emergency UK (2023). CAPE: Surrey Heath Borough Council. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/surrey-heath-borough-council/ [Accessed 22 Mar 2023].

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