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Folkestone and Hythe District Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

This council declared a climate emergency on July 24, 2019.

Council only pledge for 2030

“Folkestone and Hythe District Council has committed to reducing its own carbon footprint to a net zero target by 2030.”

Climate documents

Last update: March 16, 2022
Carbon Action Plan

Action Plan · PDF · Approved · Council Only

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

SectionFolkestone and Hythe District CouncilAverage district council
Total score59%43%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
15/21
9.4/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
10/18
8.1/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
6/7
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
4/4
1.9/4
Section 7 Diversity and inclusion
1/5
0.5/5
Section 8 Education, skills and training
1/5
1.5/5
Section 9 Ecological emergency
3/4
1.8/4

Emissions data

385.1 ktCO2

Total 2019 emissions

3.4 tCO2

per person

1.1 ktCO2

per km2

10%

Commercial

41%

Domestic

12%

Industry

4%

Public Sector

34%

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 Folkestone and Hythe District 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
Dover District Council88%Yes2030Nov. 4, 2019
Ashford Borough Council84%Yes2030No
Tendring District Council81%Yes2030Aug. 6, 2019
Maidstone Borough Council81%No2030April 10, 2019
East Sussex County Council81%Yes2050Oct. 15, 2019
East Suffolk Council80%No2030July 24, 2019
Great Yarmouth Borough Council78%NoNo targetNo
Swale Borough Council77%Yes2025June 26, 2019
Colchester Borough Council77%Yes2030July 17, 2019
Arun District Council76%No2030Jan. 15, 2020

These councils are the most similar to Folkestone and Hythe District 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
Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council93%No2030Dec. 4, 2019
Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council92%Yes2030Aug. 29, 2019
Maidstone Borough Council92%No2030April 10, 2019
South Tyneside Council92%No2030July 18, 2019
Warrington Borough Council91%Yes2030June 7, 2019
Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council90%Yes2038July 17, 2019
Ashford Borough Council90%Yes2030No
Bury Metropolitan Borough Council90%Yes2038July 10, 2019
Essex County Council90%No2030No
Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council89%NoNo targetJuly 6, 2020

These councils grographically border or overlap with Folkestone and Hythe District Council. Read more about how we calculate this.

Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Ashford Borough Council98%Yes2030No
Canterbury City Council97%Yes2030July 18, 2019
Dover District Council96%Yes2030Nov. 4, 2019
Rother District Council94%No2030Sept. 16, 2019
East Sussex County Council91%Yes2050Oct. 15, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Folkestone and Hythe District 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
Wrexham County Borough Council98%No2030Sept. 25, 2019
Rossendale Borough Council93%No2030Sept. 25, 2019
London Borough of Croydon93%YesNo targetJuly 15, 2019
Dover District Council92%Yes2030Nov. 4, 2019
Eastbourne Borough Council92%Yes2030July 10, 2019
Greater London Authority91%YesDec. 1, 2019
London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham91%No2030July 17, 2019
Swale Borough Council90%Yes2025June 26, 2019
Coventry City Council88%NoNo targetJune 18, 2019
Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council88%No2030Dec. 4, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Folkestone and Hythe District 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
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority96%Yes2050No
Tendring District Council95%Yes2030Aug. 6, 2019
Vale of White Horse District Council95%Yes2045Feb. 13, 2019
Ards and North Down Borough Council94%NoNo targetFeb. 27, 2019
West Lancashire Borough Council93%Yes2030July 17, 2019
Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council93%Yes2030July 9, 2019
Central Bedfordshire Council92%No2030March 5, 2019
Sevenoaks District Council92%Yes2030No
North Lincolnshire Council92%No2030No
Tandridge District Council90%Yes2030Feb. 13, 2020

Features

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

Integrated with Local Plan Strong on public health

Powers & Responsibilities

Folkestone and Hythe District 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

    folkestone-hythe.gov.uk
    Folkestone and Hythe District Council’s official homepage.
    Tyndall Centre Carbon Budget report
    Check Folkestone and Hythe District 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 Folkestone and Hythe District 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: Folkestone and Hythe District Council. Available at: http://data.climateemergency.uk/councils/folkestone-and-hythe-district-council/ [Accessed 22 May 2022].

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