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West Oxfordshire District Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

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

Council only pledge for 2030

“We have declared a climate and ecological emergency and made a pledge to become a carbon-neutral council by 2030.”

Climate documents

Last update: Sept. 27, 2021
West Oxfordshire District Council Climate Strategy

PDF · Approved · Whole Area
West Oxfordshire District Council Pre-plan

PDF
West Oxfordshire District Council 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

West Oxfordshire District Council was a top performer amongst district councils, in the Community, engagement and communications section.

SectionWest Oxfordshire District CouncilAverage district council
Total score50%43%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
10/21
9.4/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
8/18
8.1/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
3/7
3.8/7
Section 4 · Top performer Community, engagement and communications
9/9
4.7/9
Section 5 Measuring and setting emissions targets
4/5
2.6/5
Section 6 Co-benefits
2/4
1.9/4
Section 7 Diversity and inclusion
0/5
0.5/5
Section 8 Education, skills and training
1/5
1.5/5
Section 9 Ecological emergency
2/4
1.8/4

Emissions data

491.2 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

4.4 tCO2

per person

0.7 ktCO2

per km2

36%

Transport

36%

Domestic

14%

Industry

6%

Public Sector

5%

Commercial

4%

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 West Oxfordshire 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
Winchester City Council89%Yes2024June 5, 2019
West Berkshire Council84%No2030July 2, 2019
South Oxfordshire District Council83%Yes2025April 11, 2019
North Kesteven District Council82%Yes2030July 11, 2019
Oxfordshire County Council81%No2030April 2, 2019
Vale of White Horse District Council80%Yes2045Feb. 13, 2019
Stratford-on-Avon District Council80%Yes2030July 15, 2019
Harborough District Council79%No2030June 24, 2019
East Hampshire District Council77%No2050July 18, 2019
Wiltshire Council77%No2030Feb. 26, 2019

These councils are the most similar to West Oxfordshire 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
East Lothian Council88%No2045Aug. 27, 2019
Denbighshire County Council88%No2030July 2, 2019
West Berkshire Council86%No2030July 2, 2019
Winchester City Council84%Yes2024June 5, 2019
Stafford Borough Council84%No2040July 23, 2019
Oxfordshire County Council84%No2030April 2, 2019
North Kesteven District Council83%Yes2030July 11, 2019
North of Tyne Combined Authority81%YesNo targetMay 7, 2019
Waverley Borough Council80%Yes2030Sept. 18, 2019
Stratford-on-Avon District Council80%Yes2030July 15, 2019

Read more about how we calculate this.

Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Vale of White Horse District Council96%Yes2045Feb. 13, 2019
Cherwell District Council96%No2030July 22, 2019
Oxford City Council95%Yes2030Jan. 28, 2019
Oxfordshire County Council95%No2030April 2, 2019
Swindon Borough Council94%Yes2030No
Stratford-on-Avon District Council94%Yes2030July 15, 2019
Cotswold District Council94%NoNo targetJuly 3, 2019
Worcestershire County Council93%Yes2030July 15, 2021
West Berkshire Council93%No2030July 2, 2019
South Oxfordshire District Council92%Yes2025April 11, 2019

These councils are the most similar to West Oxfordshire 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
Uttlesford District Council100%Yes2030July 30, 2019
South Oxfordshire District Council99%Yes2025April 11, 2019
East Hertfordshire District Council98%Yes2030No
Mid Sussex District Council98%YesNo targetNo
West Berkshire Council97%No2030July 2, 2019
South Cambridgeshire District Council97%Yes2050Nov. 28, 2019
St Albans City and District Council94%No2030July 9, 2019
Cotswold District Council93%NoNo targetJuly 3, 2019
Surrey Heath Borough Council93%Yes2030Oct. 9, 2019
Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead93%No2050June 26, 2019

These councils are the most similar to West Oxfordshire 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 Lothian Council100%No2045Aug. 27, 2019
Winchester City Council99%Yes2024June 5, 2019
Craven District Council97%No2030Aug. 6, 2019
East Ayrshire Council96%No2030No
Cumbria County Council95%Yes2050No
Denbighshire County Council94%No2030July 2, 2019
South Lakeland District Council93%Yes2030Feb. 26, 2019
South Somerset District Council93%Yes2023May 21, 2019
Chichester District Council92%Yes2025July 9, 2019
Cornwall Council (Unitary)92%Yes2030Jan. 22, 2019

Features

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

Integrated with Local Plan Strong on engagement Clear communication

Powers & Responsibilities

West Oxfordshire 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

    westoxon.gov.uk
    West Oxfordshire District Council’s official homepage.
    Tyndall Centre Carbon Budget report
    Check West Oxfordshire 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 West Oxfordshire 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: West Oxfordshire District Council. Available at: http://data.climateemergency.uk/councils/west-oxfordshire-district-council/ [Accessed 28 Nov 2022].

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