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Swindon Borough Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

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

Council only pledge for 2030

“Swindon Borough Council recognises the impact of climate change and the need to be sustainable and as such will be carbon neutral as an organisation by 2030.”

Whole area pledge for 2050

“The Council will work in partnership with local businesses, residents and suppliers to develop a proactive carbon reduction agenda that helps the wider Borough of Swindon to reduce their emissions to Net Zero ahead of 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

Swindon Borough Council was a top performer amongst single tier councils, in the Measuring and setting emissions targets section.

SectionSwindon Borough CouncilAverage single tier council
Total score60%50%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
13/21
10.3/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
10/18
9.0/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
6/7
4.1/7
Section 4 Community, engagement and communications
8/9
5.1/9
Section 5 · Top performer Measuring and setting emissions targets
5/5
2.9/5
Section 6 Co-benefits
0/4
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

805.4 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

3.6 tCO2

per person

3.5 ktCO2

per km2

35%

Transport

34%

Domestic

16%

Industry

12%

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 Swindon 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
Milton Keynes90%Yes2030Jan. 23, 2019
Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council89%Yes2030Oct. 8, 2019
South Gloucestershire Council87%Yes2030July 17, 2019
North Somerset Council86%Yes2030Feb. 19, 2019
Hampshire County Council85%No2050June 17, 2019
Hertfordshire County Council84%Yes2030July 16, 2019
Warrington Borough Council84%Yes2030June 7, 2019
Redditch Borough Council83%No2050Sept. 23, 2019
Worcestershire County Council83%Yes2030July 15, 2021
Eastleigh Borough Council82%Yes2025July 18, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Swindon 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
Adur District Council95%Yes2030July 18, 2019
South Gloucestershire Council93%Yes2030July 17, 2019
Milton Keynes93%Yes2030Jan. 23, 2019
City of York Council93%Yes2030March 11, 2019
Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council91%No2030Dec. 4, 2019
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Borough Council89%Yes2030July 16, 2019
Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council89%Yes2030July 9, 2019
Great Yarmouth Borough Council89%NoNo targetNo
Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council89%Yes2030Aug. 29, 2019
Maidstone Borough Council88%Yes2030April 10, 2019
Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Cotswold District Council95%NoNo targetJuly 3, 2019
Vale of White Horse District Council95%Yes2045Feb. 13, 2019
Wiltshire Council94%No2030Feb. 26, 2019
West Oxfordshire District Council94%Yes2030June 26, 2019
West Berkshire Council93%No2030July 2, 2019
Cheltenham Borough Council93%Yes2030Feb. 18, 2019
Test Valley Borough Council92%Yes2050Sept. 4, 2019
Tewkesbury Borough Council92%Yes2030Oct. 1, 2019
Worcestershire County Council92%Yes2030July 15, 2021
Oxford City Council91%Yes2030Jan. 28, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Swindon 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
Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council98%Yes2030Oct. 8, 2019
Warrington Borough Council96%Yes2030June 7, 2019
Cheshire West and Chester Council95%Yes2030May 21, 2019
Vale of Glamorgan Council93%Yes2030July 29, 2019
West Northamptonshire Council93%NoNo targetNo
Canterbury City Council92%Yes2030July 18, 2019
West Lancashire Borough Council92%Yes2030July 17, 2019
Chorley Council91%Yes2030Nov. 19, 2019
Milton Keynes91%Yes2030Jan. 23, 2019
North Somerset Council89%Yes2030Feb. 19, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Swindon 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
Tees Valley Combined Authority99%NoNo targetNo
St Albans City and District Council98%No2030July 9, 2019
Kirklees Council98%Yes2038Jan. 16, 2019
West Yorkshire Combined Authority97%No2038June 27, 2019
North East Lincolnshire Council97%Yes2050Sept. 19, 2019
Peterborough City Council97%Yes2030July 24, 2019
Welwyn Hatfield Council97%Yes2030June 19, 2019
Cannock Chase District Council97%No2030July 17, 2019
Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council97%Yes2030Oct. 8, 2019
East Dunbartonshire Council97%Yes2045No

Features

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

Powers & Responsibilities

Swindon Borough 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

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

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    Cite this page

    mySociety, Climate Emergency UK (2023). CAPE: Swindon Borough Council. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/swindon-borough-council/ [Accessed 26 Mar 2023].

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