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Wokingham Borough Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

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

Whole area pledge for 2030

“ Achieving a carbon neutral Wokingham Borough by 2030.”

Climate documents

Last update: June 21, 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

SectionWokingham Borough CouncilAverage single tier council
Total score70%50%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
20/21
10.3/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
6/18
9.0/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
5/7
4.1/7
Section 4 Community, engagement and communications
8/9
5.1/9
Section 5 Measuring and setting emissions targets
4/5
2.9/5
Section 6 Co-benefits
4/4
2.2/4
Section 7 Diversity and inclusion
2/5
0.9/5
Section 8 Education, skills and training
3/5
2.3/5
Section 9 Ecological emergency
3/4
2.1/4

Emissions data

525.8 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

3.0 tCO2

per person

2.9 ktCO2

per km2

47%

Domestic

31%

Transport

11%

Commercial

7%

Industry

3%

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 Wokingham 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
St Albans City and District Council87%No2030July 9, 2019
Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead84%No2050June 26, 2019
Fareham Borough Council84%Yes2030Oct. 24, 2019
Epsom and Ewell Borough Council83%Yes2035July 23, 2019
Surrey Heath Borough Council83%Yes2030Oct. 9, 2019
Mid Sussex District Council83%YesNo targetNo
Blaby District Council83%Yes2030No
Hart District Council82%Yes2040Sept. 1, 2019
Rochford District Council82%Yes2030No
Eastleigh Borough Council81%Yes2025July 18, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Wokingham 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
London Borough of Bromley93%Yes2027No
Blaby District Council92%Yes2030No
Spelthorne Borough Council91%No2050Oct. 14, 2020
Rochford District Council90%Yes2030No
London Borough of Richmond upon Thames89%Yes2030July 9, 2019
Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council89%No2030March 28, 2019
London Borough of Havering88%YesNo targetNo
Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council87%Yes2030July 9, 2019
St Albans City and District Council87%No2030July 9, 2019
Castle Point Borough Council87%NoNo targetNo
Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Reading Borough Council98%Yes2030Feb. 26, 2019
Bracknell Forest Council98%Yes2050No
Hart District Council98%Yes2040Sept. 1, 2019
Hertfordshire County Council97%Yes2030July 16, 2019
Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead97%No2050June 26, 2019
Rushmoor Borough Council97%Yes2030June 20, 2019
Surrey Heath Borough Council97%Yes2030Oct. 9, 2019
South Oxfordshire District Council96%Yes2025April 11, 2019
Slough Borough Council95%YesNo targetNo
Runnymede Borough Council95%NoNo targetOct. 17, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Wokingham 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
Hart District Council96%Yes2040Sept. 1, 2019
Rushcliffe Borough Council96%Yes2030March 7, 2019
Waverley Borough Council96%Yes2030Sept. 18, 2019
Vale of White Horse District Council95%Yes2045Feb. 13, 2019
Harborough District Council95%No2030June 24, 2019
Rutland County Council95%No2050No
Isles of Scilly92%Yes2030April 11, 2019
South Cambridgeshire District Council92%Yes2050Nov. 28, 2019
East Hertfordshire District Council91%Yes2030No
Mid Sussex District Council90%YesNo targetNo

These councils are the most similar to Wokingham 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
Arun District Council98%No2030Jan. 15, 2020
Gravesham Borough Council97%No2030June 26, 2019
Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council97%Yes2038Jan. 30, 2019
Renfrewshire Council96%No2030June 27, 2019
Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council96%No2040Sept. 19, 2019
Hertsmere Borough Council96%Yes2050Sept. 18, 2019
City of York Council96%Yes2030March 11, 2019
Charnwood Borough Council95%Yes2030No
Thurrock Council95%No2022Oct. 23, 2019
Darlington Borough Council95%Yes2050July 18, 2019

Features

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

Powers & Responsibilities

Wokingham 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

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

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    Cite this page

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

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