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South Lakeland District Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

This council declared a climate emergency on Feb. 26, 2019.

Council only pledge for 2030

“South Lakeland District Council’s ambition is to be a “carbon-neutral” council by 2030.”

Whole area pledge for 2037

“SLDC has also signed up to the Cumbria Joint Public Health Strategy: To become a “carbon-neutral” County and to mitigate the likely impact of existing climate change. SLDC have confirmed a target date for South Lakeland of 2037. ”

Climate documents

Last update: March 16, 2022
Climate Change Action Plan

Action Plan · PDF · Approved · Whole Area
Climate Change Action Plan

Action Plan · 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

SectionSouth Lakeland District CouncilAverage district council
Total score39%43%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
10/21
9.4/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
6/18
8.1/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
2/7
3.8/7
Section 4 Community, engagement and communications
4/9
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
1/4
1.8/4

Emissions data

699.0 ktCO2

Total 2019 emissions

6.7 tCO2

per person

0.4 ktCO2

per km2

9%

Commercial

28%

Domestic

27%

Industry

2%

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 South Lakeland 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
North Yorkshire County Council83%Yes2030No
Ribble Valley Borough Council83%No2030No
Craven District Council82%No2030Aug. 6, 2019
Cumbria County Council74%Yes2050No
Derbyshire Dales District Council74%Yes2030May 30, 2019
Hambleton District Council72%No2034Dec. 14, 2021
Northumberland Council69%Yes2030June 11, 2019
East Riding of Yorkshire Council68%No2050Feb. 24, 2021
West Lindsey District Council68%Yes2050No
Richmondshire District Council68%Yes2030July 23, 2019

These councils are the most similar to South Lakeland 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
Scottish Borders Council90%Yes2045Sept. 5, 2020
Carmarthenshire County Council88%Yes2030Feb. 20, 2019
Argyll and Bute Council86%Yes2045No
Isle of Anglesey County Council85%Yes2030Sept. 8, 2020
Ceredigion County Council84%Yes2030March 5, 2020
Dumfries and Galloway Council84%Yes2025June 27, 2019
Powys County Council83%No2030July 30, 2020
Ribble Valley Borough Council82%No2030No
The Highland Council81%No2025May 9, 2019
North Yorkshire County Council81%Yes2030No

These councils grographically border or overlap with South Lakeland District Council. Read more about how we calculate this.

Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Lancaster City Council95%Yes2030Jan. 30, 2019
Cumbria County Council94%Yes2050No
Barrow-in-Furness Borough Council92%No2037July 16, 2019
Eden District Council92%No2030July 11, 2019
Copeland Borough Council90%Yes2050No
Allerdale Borough Council88%Yes2030Sept. 25, 2019
Craven District Council86%No2030Aug. 6, 2019
Richmondshire District Council82%Yes2030July 23, 2019

These councils are the most similar to South Lakeland 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
Hambleton District Council97%No2034Dec. 14, 2021
North Yorkshire County Council97%Yes2030No
Derbyshire Dales District Council89%Yes2030May 30, 2019
Ribble Valley Borough Council89%No2030No
Craven District Council88%No2030Aug. 6, 2019
Melton Borough Council88%No2030July 17, 2019
North Kesteven District Council86%Yes2030July 11, 2019
Mid Suffolk District Council86%Yes2030July 25, 2019
East Cambridgeshire District Council85%Yes2050Oct. 17, 2019
Stratford-on-Avon District Council84%Yes2030July 15, 2019

These councils are the most similar to South Lakeland 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
East Ayrshire Council90%No2030No
East Lindsey District Council90%Yes2040No
North Yorkshire County Council89%Yes2030No
North Devon Council88%Yes2030July 24, 2019
Cumbria County Council87%Yes2050No
Shropshire Council - Unitary86%No2030May 16, 2019
Craven District Council86%No2030Aug. 6, 2019
Rutland County Council84%No2050No
South Holland District Council83%NoNo targetNo
Cornwall Council (Unitary)81%Yes2030Jan. 22, 2019

Features

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

Strong on public health

Powers & Responsibilities

South Lakeland 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

    southlakeland.gov.uk
    South Lakeland District Council’s official homepage.
    Tyndall Centre Carbon Budget report
    Check South Lakeland 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 South Lakeland 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: South Lakeland District Council. Available at: http://data.climateemergency.uk/councils/south-lakeland-district-council/ [Accessed 25 Jun 2022].

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