Climate plans rated highly

Climate Emergency UK assessed all UK councils based on Climate Action Plans that were published online, with South Ribble Borough Council coming out top of district councils in Lancashire.

Including unitary councils such as Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen, South Ribble Borough Council still performed well with a score of 60%, narrowly missing the top spot by 1%, pipped to the post by Blackpool Council who scored 61%.

Councillor Mick Titherington, Deputy Leader of South Ribble Borough Council, said: "We developed our comprehensive Climate Emergency Strategy in 2020 prior to giving residents and businesses an opportunity to give their views on this which led to the development of the Climate Emergency Action Plan which was published in summer 2021. 

"We're delighted that we have scored highly when our climate emergency plans were assessed by Climate Emergency UK as these plans outline our objectives, however it's the delivery of the actions within these plans that really counts. 

"We set a goal of South Ribble becoming carbon neutral by 2030 and we continue to deliver a wide range of climate action to help achieve this." 

Some of South Ribble Borough Council's recent climate action has included tree planting within the Borough and encouraging residents to get involved in tree giveaways, with two events already been held in January 2022 and another planned for March - contributing to the goal of 110k trees being planted in South Ribble by 2025.  

The Council's estates have been audited which has led to the installation of more solar panels, LED lighting and system to improve energy efficiency at the Civic Centre. Electric Vehicle charging infrastructure within the Borough has been enhanced. The Council has also committed to eliminating the use of Single Use Plastics by 2025.

The aim of the Council Climate Scorecards created by Climate Emergency UK aim to; allow residents and campaigners to understand the quality of their council's Climate Action Plan according the Climate Emergency UK scorecards, help councils to see where they have done well and where they could improve and allow councils to share best practice examples, as it is easy to see which plans have scored the highest in various sections. 

During the assessment, which was carried out by a team of 120 volunteers, the scoring was based on: whether the climate actions are costed; do the actions have a clear goal; are local residents being engaged with climate action; does the plan include strategies to decarbonise waste, planning, homes and other services that the council is responsible for; does it go beyond cutting the council's own emissions and plan to work with others to cut the whole area's emissions, and does the plan cover areas such as re-skilling the workforce, climate education, governance and funding for climate action. 

According to the Climate Emergency UK website, in future years they plan to assess councils on the actual steps they are taking towards eliminating their climate emissions.  

More about Climate Emergency UK Scorecard can be found at climateemergency.uk

The South Ribble Borough Council Climate Emergency Strategy and Action Plan can be viewed at southribble.gov.uk/climatechange