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Waverley Borough Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

This council declared a climate emergency on Sept. 18, 2019.

Council only pledge for 2030

“In September 2019, councillors voted to adopt the Climate Emergency motion, which sets out the council's aim to become carbon-neutral by 2030.”

Climate documents

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

PDF · Approved · Council Only
Waverley Borough Council Climate Strategy

PDF · Approved · Council Only

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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

SectionWaverley Borough CouncilAverage district council
Total score76%43%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
18/21
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
8/9
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
0/5
0.5/5
Section 8 Education, skills and training
3/5
1.5/5
Section 9 Ecological emergency
3/4
1.8/4

Emissions data

508.5 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

4.0 tCO2

per person

1.5 ktCO2

per km2

42%

Domestic

42%

Transport

5%

Commercial

5%

Public Sector

4%

Industry

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 Waverley 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
Mole Valley District Council88%No2030June 18, 2019
West Berkshire Council87%No2030July 2, 2019
Hart District Council84%Yes2040Sept. 1, 2019
Surrey Heath Borough Council83%Yes2030Oct. 9, 2019
Mid Sussex District Council83%YesNo targetNo
Surrey County Council83%Yes2030July 9, 2019
East Hampshire District Council82%No2050July 18, 2019
East Hertfordshire District Council82%Yes2030No
Guildford Borough Council82%Yes2030July 23, 2019
Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead82%No2050June 26, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Waverley 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
Mole Valley District Council93%No2030June 18, 2019
Elmbridge Borough Council86%No2030July 17, 2019
Cheshire East Council (Unitary)83%Yes2025May 22, 2019
West Berkshire Council83%No2030July 2, 2019
Surrey County Council83%Yes2030July 9, 2019
Surrey Heath Borough Council81%Yes2030Oct. 9, 2019
West Oxfordshire District Council81%Yes2030June 26, 2019
Winchester City Council81%Yes2024June 5, 2019
Tandridge District Council81%Yes2030Feb. 13, 2020
Fylde Borough Council80%NoNo targetNo

Read more about how we calculate this.

Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Guildford Borough Council98%Yes2030July 23, 2019
Woking Borough Council97%Yes2030July 25, 2019
Rushmoor Borough Council97%Yes2030June 20, 2019
Surrey Heath Borough Council97%Yes2030Oct. 9, 2019
Surrey County Council97%Yes2030July 9, 2019
Chichester District Council97%Yes2025July 9, 2019
Runnymede Borough Council96%NoNo targetOct. 17, 2019
Bracknell Forest Council96%Yes2050No
Hart District Council96%Yes2040Sept. 1, 2019
Hertfordshire County Council96%Yes2030July 16, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Waverley 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
Rushcliffe Borough Council99%Yes2030March 7, 2019
Harborough District Council98%No2030June 24, 2019
Rutland County Council98%No2050No
Vale of White Horse District Council98%Yes2045Feb. 13, 2019
South Cambridgeshire District Council96%Yes2050Nov. 28, 2019
Wokingham Borough Council96%Yes2030July 18, 2019
Hart District Council95%Yes2040Sept. 1, 2019
East Hertfordshire District Council94%Yes2030No
Mid Sussex District Council93%YesNo targetNo
West Oxfordshire District Council93%Yes2030June 26, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Waverley 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
East Sussex County Council98%Yes2050Oct. 15, 2019
Tewkesbury Borough Council98%Yes2030Oct. 1, 2019
Gloucestershire County Council97%Yes2030May 15, 2019
Rugby Borough Council97%Yes2030July 18, 2019
Worcestershire County Council96%Yes2030July 15, 2021
Flintshire County Council96%YesNo targetNo
Swale Borough Council96%Yes2025June 26, 2019
South Kesteven District Council95%Yes2050Sept. 26, 2019
East Hertfordshire District Council95%Yes2030No
Lewes District Council94%Yes2030July 15, 2019

Features

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

Comprehensive plan for mitigation Integrated with Local Plan Clear communication Strong on public health

Powers & Responsibilities

Waverley 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

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

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    Cite this page

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

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