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Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

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

Climate pledge for 2030

“The Environment Agency has produced a report on its commitment to reduce its carbon emissions to net zero by 2030 . We aim to be carbon neutral in the same time frame.”

Climate documents

Last update: March 10, 2022
Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council Action Plan

PDF · Whole Area

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Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council Action Plan

PDF · We no longer hold a copy of this document

Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council Climate Strategy

PDF · Draft · 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

SectionTonbridge and Malling Borough CouncilAverage district council
Total score64%43%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
13/21
9.4/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
13/18
8.1/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
6/7
3.8/7
Section 4 Community, engagement and communications
7/9
4.7/9
Section 5 Measuring and setting emissions targets
4/5
2.6/5
Section 6 Co-benefits
4/4
1.9/4
Section 7 Diversity and inclusion
1/5
0.5/5
Section 8 Education, skills and training
1/5
1.5/5
Section 9 Ecological emergency
2/4
1.8/4

Emissions data

465.5 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

3.5 tCO2

per person

1.9 ktCO2

per km2

39%

Domestic

35%

Transport

12%

Industry

9%

Commercial

3%

Public Sector

2%

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 Tonbridge and Malling 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
Central Bedfordshire Council90%No2030July 19, 2019
Tunbridge Wells Borough Council86%Yes2030July 17, 2019
Sevenoaks District Council85%Yes2030No
West Sussex County Council84%Yes2030April 5, 2019
Essex County Council84%Yes2030No
Maidstone Borough Council84%Yes2030April 10, 2019
Buckinghamshire Council84%No2050No
Hampshire County Council84%No2050June 17, 2019
Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council83%Yes2025July 18, 2019
Tandridge District Council83%Yes2030Feb. 13, 2020

These councils are the most similar to Tonbridge and Malling 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
Hampshire County Council93%No2050June 17, 2019
City of York Council93%Yes2030March 11, 2019
Lewes District Council92%Yes2030July 15, 2019
Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council92%Yes2030Oct. 8, 2019
West Sussex County Council92%Yes2030April 5, 2019
Maidstone Borough Council91%Yes2030April 10, 2019
North Hertfordshire District Council91%Yes2030May 21, 2019
Great Yarmouth Borough Council91%NoNo targetNo
Blaby District Council91%Yes2030No
Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council90%No2030Dec. 4, 2019

Read more about how we calculate this.

Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Gravesham Borough Council98%No2030June 26, 2019
Tunbridge Wells Borough Council98%Yes2030July 17, 2019
Sevenoaks District Council98%Yes2030No
Dartford Borough Council98%NoNo targetOct. 7, 2019
Maidstone Borough Council97%Yes2030April 10, 2019
Thurrock Council97%No2022Oct. 23, 2019
Medway Council97%Yes2050April 25, 2019
London Borough of Bexley96%NoNo targetNo
London Borough of Bromley96%Yes2027No
London Borough of Havering96%YesNo targetNo

These councils are the most similar to Tonbridge and Malling 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
North West Leicestershire District Council97%Yes2030June 25, 2019
Cherwell District Council97%No2030July 22, 2019
Stafford Borough Council97%No2040July 23, 2019
Charnwood Borough Council97%Yes2030No
Hampshire County Council96%No2050June 17, 2019
South Kesteven District Council96%Yes2050Sept. 26, 2019
Sevenoaks District Council96%Yes2030No
Lichfield District Council96%NoNo targetDec. 10, 2019
Tewkesbury Borough Council96%Yes2030Oct. 1, 2019
Bath and North East Somerset Council96%Yes2030March 14, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Tonbridge and Malling 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
Tendring District Council96%Yes2030Aug. 6, 2019
Central Bedfordshire Council96%No2030July 19, 2019
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority95%Yes2050No
Tandridge District Council94%Yes2030Feb. 13, 2020
Folkestone and Hythe District Council94%Yes2030July 24, 2019
Great Yarmouth Borough Council93%NoNo targetNo
North Northamptonshire Council92%Yes2030July 28, 2021
South Staffordshire Council92%YesNo targetSept. 10, 2019
Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council91%No2030July 16, 2019
Isle of Wight Council91%No2030July 24, 2019

Features

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

Integrated with Local Plan Strong on public health

Powers & Responsibilities

Tonbridge and Malling 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

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

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    Cite this page

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

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