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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

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

386.2 ktCO2

Total 2019 emissions

3.3 tCO2

per person

8.3 ktCO2

per km2

16%

Commercial

43%

Domestic

11%

Industry

7%

Public Sector

23%

Transport

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
Worcester City Council85%No2030July 16, 2019
Woking Borough Council83%Yes2030July 25, 2019
Bracknell Forest Council83%Yes2050No
Bath and North East Somerset Council82%Yes2030March 14, 2019
Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council82%Yes2038Nov. 28, 2018
London Borough of Sutton82%No2045July 22, 2019
Erewash Borough Council82%No2050No
Oadby and Wigston Borough Council82%No2030No
West of England Combined Authority81%Yes2030July 1, 2019
Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council81%Yes2030Oct. 8, 2019

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
Chorley Council89%No2030Nov. 19, 2019
Wirral Council88%No2030July 15, 2019
Southend-on-Sea Borough Council86%No2030July 18, 2019
Bath and North East Somerset Council85%Yes2030March 14, 2019
Greater Manchester Combined Authority85%No2038July 26, 2019
Worcester City Council84%No2030July 16, 2019
Wolverhampton City Council84%No2028July 17, 2019
Swansea City Council84%No2030June 27, 2019
Bury Metropolitan Borough Council83%Yes2038July 10, 2019
South Tyneside Council83%No2030July 18, 2019

These councils grographically border or overlap with Cheltenham Borough Council. Read more about how we calculate this.

Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Tewkesbury Borough Council99%Yes2030Oct. 1, 2019
Cotswold District Council96%NoNo targetJuly 3, 2019

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 Council98%Yes2030Feb. 7, 2019
Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council95%Yes2038Nov. 28, 2018
London Borough of Bromley95%Yes2029No
Cheshire East Council (Unitary)94%Yes2025May 22, 2019
North Somerset Council92%Yes2030Feb. 19, 2019
London Borough of Sutton92%No2045July 22, 2019
Canterbury City Council91%Yes2030July 18, 2019
Vale of Glamorgan Council91%Yes2030July 29, 2019
Swindon Borough Council90%Yes2030No
Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council90%Yes2030July 9, 2019

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 Council100%No2030No
South Tyneside Council100%No2030July 18, 2019
Eastbourne Borough Council100%Yes2030July 10, 2019
Middlesbrough Borough Council100%No2029Sept. 4, 2019
Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council100%No2038March 28, 2019
London Borough of Havering100%YesNo targetNo

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 23 May 2022].

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