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Wrexham County Borough Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

This council declared a climate emergency on Sept. 25, 2019.

Council only pledge for 2030

“Commit to make Wrexham County Borough a net carbon free council by 2030.”

Climate documents

We couldn’t find any climate action plans for this council.

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

SectionWrexham County Borough CouncilAverage single tier council
Total score22%50%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
8/21
10.3/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
3/18
9.0/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
4/7
4.1/7
Section 4 Community, engagement and communications
0/9
5.1/9
Section 5 Measuring and setting emissions targets
2/5
2.9/5
Section 6 Co-benefits
0/4
2.2/4
Section 7 Diversity and inclusion
0/5
0.9/5
Section 8 Education, skills and training
0/5
2.3/5
Section 9 Ecological emergency
1/4
2.1/4

Emissions data

805.7 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

5.9 tCO2

per person

1.6 ktCO2

per km2

31%

Industry

25%

Transport

24%

Domestic

9%

Commercial

9%

Agriculture

2%

Public Sector

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 Wrexham County 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
Wyre Council75%Yes2030July 11, 2019
Cumbria County Council75%Yes2050No
Staffordshire Moorlands District Council74%Yes2030July 10, 2019
East Staffordshire Borough Council72%Yes2040Aug. 17, 2020
Derbyshire County Council72%Yes2032No
Carlisle City Council71%No2030March 5, 2019
West Lancashire Borough Council71%Yes2030July 17, 2019
South Ayrshire Council71%No2045No
Monmouthshire County Council70%Yes2030May 16, 2019
Flintshire County Council70%YesNo targetNo

These councils are the most similar to Wrexham County 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
Cumbria County Council71%Yes2050No
Staffordshire Moorlands District Council70%Yes2030July 10, 2019
Herefordshire Council65%Yes2030March 8, 2019
Pembrokeshire County Council64%Yes2030May 9, 2019
South Ayrshire Council63%No2045No
Wyre Council62%Yes2030July 11, 2019
Allerdale Borough Council62%Yes2030Sept. 25, 2019
Mid Devon District Council62%Yes2030June 26, 2019
East Lindsey District Council61%Yes2040No
East Riding of Yorkshire Council61%No2050Feb. 24, 2021
Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Flintshire County Council94%YesNo targetNo
Denbighshire County Council93%No2030July 2, 2019
Cheshire West and Chester Council93%Yes2030May 21, 2019
Wirral Council92%No2030July 15, 2019
Liverpool City Council91%Yes2030July 17, 2019
Shropshire Council - Unitary90%No2030May 16, 2019
Halton Borough Council90%YesNo targetOct. 16, 2019
Liverpool City Region Combined Authority90%Yes2040April 28, 2019
Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council90%Yes2040Jan. 29, 2020
St Helens Metropolitan Borough Council88%Yes2040June 10, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Wrexham County 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
Ashford Borough Council98%Yes2030No
South Ayrshire Council96%No2045No
Conwy County Borough Council96%No2030May 9, 2019
Carlisle City Council95%No2030March 5, 2019
North Devon Council95%Yes2030July 24, 2019
Midlothian Council94%No2030Dec. 17, 2019
Cumbria County Council94%Yes2050No
Arun District Council94%No2030Jan. 15, 2020
Norfolk County Council94%No2030No
East Suffolk Council93%No2030July 24, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Wrexham County 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
North Ayrshire Council99%No2030June 25, 2019
Wyre Council98%Yes2030July 11, 2019
Lichfield District Council98%NoNo targetDec. 10, 2019
Leicestershire County Council97%No2030May 15, 2019
Conwy County Borough Council97%No2030May 9, 2019
Nottinghamshire County Council96%No2030May 27, 2021
Chorley Council96%Yes2030Nov. 19, 2019
New Forest District Council96%NoNo targetNov. 6, 2021
Brentwood Borough Council96%No2040No
Colchester Borough Council96%Yes2030July 17, 2019

Powers & Responsibilities

Wrexham County 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 local authority powers across the UK, at The Institute for Government.

    More about this council

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

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    Cite this page

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

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