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Test Valley Borough Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

This council declared a climate emergency on Sept. 4, 2019.

Council only pledge for 2050

“In declaring a Climate Emergency, Test Valley Borough Council has committed to identifying steps we can take to achieve carbon neutrality as soon as possible, certainly before the Government target of 2050.”

Climate documents

Last update: June 21, 2022
Climate Emergency Action Plan Test Valley Borough Council 2021 Update

Progress Report · PDF
Climate Emergency Action Plan Test Valley Borough Council June 2020

Action Plan · PDF

Show more action plan documents
Test Valley Borough Council Action Plan

PDF · We no longer hold a copy of this document

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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

SectionTest Valley Borough CouncilAverage district council
Total score22%43%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
7/21
9.4/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
1/18
8.1/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
2/7
3.8/7
Section 4 Community, engagement and communications
4/9
4.7/9
Section 5 Measuring and setting emissions targets
2/5
2.6/5
Section 6 Co-benefits
1/4
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

598.5 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

4.7 tCO2

per person

1.0 ktCO2

per km2

43%

Transport

31%

Domestic

12%

Industry

8%

Commercial

4%

Public Sector

3%

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 Test Valley 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
Cherwell District Council88%No2030July 22, 2019
Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council85%Yes2025July 18, 2019
South Kesteven District Council84%Yes2050Sept. 26, 2019
East Hampshire District Council84%No2050July 18, 2019
Tewkesbury Borough Council84%Yes2030Oct. 1, 2019
Lichfield District Council83%NoNo targetDec. 10, 2019
Wiltshire Council83%No2030Feb. 26, 2019
Stafford Borough Council83%No2040July 23, 2019
Guildford Borough Council82%Yes2030July 23, 2019
Warwickshire County Council82%Yes2030July 25, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Test Valley 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
Vale of White Horse District Council90%Yes2045Feb. 13, 2019
Stratford-on-Avon District Council88%Yes2030July 15, 2019
West Northamptonshire Council88%NoNo targetNo
Lichfield District Council87%NoNo targetDec. 10, 2019
Uttlesford District Council86%Yes2030July 30, 2019
Cambridgeshire County Council85%Yes2050May 14, 2019
South Kesteven District Council84%Yes2050Sept. 26, 2019
Warwickshire County Council84%Yes2030July 25, 2019
Conwy County Borough Council84%No2030May 9, 2019
Chelmsford City Council83%Yes2030July 16, 2019

Read more about how we calculate this.

Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Southampton City Council96%Yes2030Sept. 18, 2019
Eastleigh Borough Council96%Yes2025July 18, 2019
New Forest District Council96%NoNo targetNov. 6, 2021
Winchester City Council95%Yes2024June 5, 2019
Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council95%Yes2025July 18, 2019
West Berkshire Council94%No2030July 2, 2019
Fareham Borough Council94%Yes2030Oct. 24, 2019
Hampshire County Council93%No2050June 17, 2019
Wiltshire Council93%No2030Feb. 26, 2019
Gosport Borough Council93%Yes2050No

These councils are the most similar to Test Valley 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
Lichfield District Council99%NoNo targetDec. 10, 2019
Sevenoaks District Council98%Yes2030No
Leicestershire County Council98%No2030May 15, 2019
Shetland Islands Council98%YesNo targetJan. 22, 2020
Chelmsford City Council98%Yes2030July 16, 2019
Tewkesbury Borough Council98%Yes2030Oct. 1, 2019
Wealden District Council97%Yes2050July 24, 2019
Charnwood Borough Council97%Yes2030No
Central Bedfordshire Council96%No2030July 19, 2019
Perth and Kinross Council96%No2045No

These councils are the most similar to Test Valley 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
Staffordshire Moorlands District Council98%Yes2030July 10, 2019
Derry City and Strabane District Council98%Yes2045June 27, 2019
Cherwell District Council98%No2030July 22, 2019
Stroud District Council94%No2030Dec. 13, 2018
South Ayrshire Council93%No2045No
Angus Council90%YesNo targetSept. 5, 2019
Mole Valley District Council89%No2030June 18, 2019
Boston Borough Council89%NoNo targetJan. 20, 2020
East Hertfordshire District Council88%Yes2030No
Midlothian Council88%No2030Dec. 17, 2019

Powers & Responsibilities

Test Valley 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

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

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    Cite this page

    mySociety, Climate Emergency UK (2023). CAPE: Test Valley Borough Council. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/test-valley-borough-council/ [Accessed 6 Jun 2023].

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