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Worthing Borough Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

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

Climate pledges

We haven’t checked whether this council has made any climate pledges yet, but we will soon. If you’ve already found one, let us know!

Climate documents

Last update: June 21, 2022
Worthing Borough Council Progress Report

PDF
Worthing Borough Council Pre-plan

PDF · Draft
Worthing Borough Council Action Plan

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

SectionWorthing Borough CouncilAverage district council
Total score53%43%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
13/21
9.4/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
12/18
8.1/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
2/7
3.8/7
Section 4 Community, engagement and communications
5/9
4.7/9
Section 5 Measuring and setting emissions targets
3/5
2.6/5
Section 6 Co-benefits
3/4
1.9/4
Section 7 Diversity and inclusion
2/5
0.5/5
Section 8 Education, skills and training
3/5
1.5/5
Section 9 Ecological emergency
1/4
1.8/4

Emissions data

284.8 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

2.6 tCO2

per person

8.4 ktCO2

per km2

48%

Domestic

28%

Transport

12%

Industry

6%

Commercial

6%

Public Sector

0%

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 Worthing 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
Brighton and Hove City Council88%Yes2030Dec. 13, 2018
London Borough of Havering88%YesNo targetNo
Spelthorne Borough Council87%No2050Oct. 14, 2020
Rushmoor Borough Council87%Yes2030June 20, 2019
Watford Borough Council86%No2030July 9, 2019
London Borough of Harrow86%Yes2030July 18, 2019
London Borough of Barnet85%NoNo targetMay 24, 2022
London Borough of Croydon85%YesNo targetJuly 15, 2019
Reading Borough Council85%Yes2030Feb. 26, 2019
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Borough Council85%Yes2030July 16, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Worthing 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
Ipswich Borough Council91%Yes2030July 9, 2019
Medway Council90%Yes2050April 25, 2019
London Borough of Harrow90%Yes2030July 18, 2019
Luton Borough Council88%Yes2040Jan. 13, 2020
Havant Borough Council88%Yes2050No
Fareham Borough Council88%Yes2030Oct. 24, 2019
London Borough of Sutton88%No2045July 22, 2019
Eastleigh Borough Council87%Yes2025July 18, 2019
London Borough of Redbridge87%Yes2050June 20, 2019
Spelthorne Borough Council87%No2050Oct. 14, 2020

Read more about how we calculate this.

Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Adur District Council99%Yes2030July 18, 2019
West Sussex County Council98%Yes2030April 5, 2019
Horsham District Council98%Yes2050June 26, 2019
Arun District Council98%No2030Jan. 15, 2020
Brighton and Hove City Council96%Yes2030Dec. 13, 2018
Mid Sussex District Council96%YesNo targetNo
Crawley Borough Council95%Yes2040July 17, 2019
Chichester District Council95%Yes2025July 9, 2019
Mole Valley District Council95%No2030June 18, 2019
Lewes District Council94%Yes2030July 15, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Worthing 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
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Borough Council88%Yes2030July 16, 2019
London Borough of Havering88%YesNo targetNo
Gosport Borough Council87%Yes2050No
City of London85%No2027No
Brighton and Hove City Council84%Yes2030Dec. 13, 2018
Watford Borough Council84%No2030July 9, 2019
Exeter City Council84%Yes2030July 23, 2019
Rushmoor Borough Council83%Yes2030June 20, 2019
Castle Point Borough Council83%NoNo targetNo
Tamworth Borough Council81%No2050Oct. 19, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Worthing 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
Gosport Borough Council100%Yes2050No
Stevenage Borough Council100%No2030June 12, 2019
Ipswich Borough Council100%Yes2030July 9, 2019
Derby City Council100%Yes2050May 23, 2019
Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council100%NoNo targetJuly 6, 2020
Plymouth City Council100%Yes2030March 18, 2019
London Borough of Richmond upon Thames99%Yes2030July 9, 2019
Brighton and Hove City Council99%Yes2030Dec. 13, 2018
West Midlands Combined Authority99%No2041June 28, 2019
Gloucester City Council99%Yes2030July 11, 2019

Powers & Responsibilities

Worthing 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

    adur-worthing.gov.uk
    Worthing Borough Council’s official homepage.
    Tyndall Centre Carbon Budget report
    Check Worthing 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 Worthing Borough Council’s climate performance, and actions you can take.

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    Cite this page

    mySociety, Climate Emergency UK (2023). CAPE: Worthing Borough Council. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/worthing-borough-council/ [Accessed 1 Apr 2023].

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