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Cheltenham Borough Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

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

Whole area pledge for 2030

“The motion to declare a climate emergency was proposed to full council on 18 February 2019 and called on the cabinet to: make Cheltenham carbon neutral by 2030, taking into account both production and consumption emissions.”

Climate documents

Last update: March 29, 2022
Cheltenham Borough Council's Climate Emergency Action Plan

Action Plan · HTML · Approved ·
Carbon Neutral Cheltenham, October 2019

Summary Document · PDF · Approved · 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

SectionCheltenham Borough CouncilAverage district council
Total score24%43%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
9/21
9.4/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
4/18
8.1/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
0/7
3.8/7
Section 4 Community, engagement and communications
4/9
4.7/9
Section 5 Measuring and setting emissions targets
4/5
2.6/5
Section 6 Co-benefits
0/4
1.9/4
Section 7 Diversity and inclusion
0/5
0.5/5
Section 8 Education, skills and training
0/5
1.5/5
Section 9 Ecological emergency
0/4
1.8/4

Emissions data

349.3 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

3.0 tCO2

per person

7.5 ktCO2

per km2

44%

Domestic

23%

Transport

14%

Public Sector

10%

Industry

8%

Commercial

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 Cheltenham 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
Runnymede Borough Council81%NoNo targetOct. 17, 2019
Worcester City Council79%No2030July 16, 2019
Oxford City Council79%Yes2030Jan. 28, 2019
Exeter City Council77%Yes2030July 23, 2019
Bath and North East Somerset Council73%Yes2030March 14, 2019
Gloucester City Council73%Yes2030July 11, 2019
City of Lincoln Council72%No2030July 23, 2019
Rushmoor Borough Council72%Yes2030June 20, 2019
Welwyn Hatfield Council72%Yes2030June 19, 2019
Bracknell Forest Council71%Yes2050No

These councils are the most similar to Cheltenham 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 Hammersmith & Fulham86%Yes2030July 17, 2019
City of Lincoln Council82%No2030July 23, 2019
Aberdeen City Council82%Yes2045No
Runnymede Borough Council82%NoNo targetOct. 17, 2019
Newcastle-upon-Tyne City Council81%Yes2030April 3, 2019
West Dunbartonshire Council81%Yes2045May 29, 2019
City of Edinburgh Council80%Yes2030Feb. 7, 2019
Nottingham City Council80%Yes2028Jan. 21, 2019
Glasgow City Council79%Yes2030May 16, 2019
London Borough of Lambeth78%Yes2030Jan. 23, 2019

Read more about how we calculate this.

Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Tewkesbury Borough Council99%Yes2030Oct. 1, 2019
Gloucester City Council97%Yes2030July 11, 2019
Cotswold District Council97%NoNo targetJuly 3, 2019
Worcestershire County Council96%Yes2030July 15, 2021
Wychavon District Council95%Yes2050No
Stroud District Council95%No2030Dec. 13, 2018
Worcester City Council94%No2030July 16, 2019
Malvern Hills District Council93%Yes2030July 23, 2019
Redditch Borough Council93%No2050Sept. 23, 2019
Forest of Dean District Council93%Yes2030Dec. 6, 2018

These councils are the most similar to Cheltenham 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
City of Edinburgh Council96%Yes2030Feb. 7, 2019
London Borough of Bromley95%Yes2027No
Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council94%Yes2038Nov. 28, 2018
Cambridge City Council86%Yes2030Feb. 21, 2019
Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council86%Yes2030Oct. 8, 2019
Swindon Borough Council85%Yes2030No
Warrington Borough Council84%Yes2030June 7, 2019
North Somerset Council84%Yes2030Feb. 19, 2019
Oadby and Wigston Borough Council84%No2030No
Aberdeen City Council84%Yes2045No

These councils are the most similar to Cheltenham 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
Tamworth Borough Council100%No2050Oct. 19, 2019
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Borough Council100%Yes2030July 16, 2019
Crawley Borough Council100%Yes2040July 17, 2019
Rushmoor Borough Council100%Yes2030June 20, 2019
Oadby and Wigston Borough Council99%No2030No
Belfast City Council99%YesNo targetOct. 1, 2019
South Tyneside Council99%No2030July 18, 2019
Dundee City Council99%Yes2045June 24, 2019
Eastbourne Borough Council99%Yes2030July 10, 2019
Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council99%No2038March 28, 2019

Powers & Responsibilities

Cheltenham 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

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

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    Cite this page

    mySociety, Climate Emergency UK (2022). Climate Action Plan Explorer: Cheltenham Borough Council. Available at: http://data.climateemergency.uk/councils/cheltenham-borough-council/ [Accessed 26 Sep 2022].

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