Lancaster City Council leads the way again on climate action in Lancashire
Lancaster City is the highest scoring council for climate action in Lancashire, according to Climate Emergency UK who published their second edition of the Council Climate Action Scorecards today, the only holistic analysis of all UK councils’ climate action.
Lancaster City council, scoring 64% is of only 62 councils across the UK scoring 50% or more on climate action and were also a top scorer in 2023 when the first Action Scorecards were published.
The scores vary across the county, the second highest being West Lancashire Borough Council on 35% and Ribble Valley Borough Council scoring the lowest on 19%. Elsewhere, Blackpool and Preston both scored 28% and 26% respectively. The average score across Lancashire was just 29%, 10% below the average UK score of 38%.
This is the second time that Climate Emergency UK has undertaken this holistic assessment of what councils can do for climate action, what they can do to lower carbon emissions, cut residents’ energy bills, protect and create more space for nature and provide better public transport, among other things. The Scorecards are created by assessing councils according to a 3 stage marking process using primarily publicly available data, as well as national data and Freedom of Information responses from councils.
Whilst average scores remain low (38%), 80% of all UK councils saw an increase in their Scorecard results since 2023. Two councils in Lancashire saw a decrease in their overall scores compared to 2023: South Ribble Borough Council dropped by 6 percentage points, and Chorley Borough Council fell by 5 points. A further two councils, Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council and Lancashire County Council, saw no change in their overall scores.
Annie Pickering, Operations Director at Climate Emergency UK, said: “The majority of councils in Lancashire have improved their Scorecard results since 2023, showing that councils, along with residents, want to prioritise climate action to improve their lives and communities.
“Yet the average overall score increase since 2023 was just 6 percentage points, and in Lancashire it was lower at 4. This shows that councils across the UK are struggling to step up their climate action at the emergency pace needed because there are nationwide barriers making it harder for councils to deliver effective, high point scoring, work that would cut residents’ bills, make their homes warmer and raise funds for cash strapped local governments. These Scorecards provide proof of where councils need real investment from the national government so that every council can improve their score by 20 percentage points or more each time to make real progress towards cleaner, safer and more prosperous zero emission communities we need to thrive.”
Despite the small overall improvement, there are 58 councils across the UK that scored over 80% in one or more sections, such as Planning & Land Use, Buildings & Heating and Transport.
Locally, no council scored above 80% in any section, but Lancaster City Council performed strongly, scoring over 70% in three of the seven assessed sections: Buildings & Heating, Planning & Land Use and Collaboration & Engagement. These high scores reflect a well-rounded approach to climate action, making new and existing homes warmer and cheaper to heat through strong planning commitments and retrofit support to residents. As well, they are also working closely with residents, schools, businesses and other institutions to decarbonise collectively.
Blackpool Borough Council also scored strongly in Collaboration & Engagement, with 76%, recognising their work with residents on local climate action, as well as businesses, schools, health and other institutions, whilst providing clear and transparent updates on their decarbonisation progress.
Miss Pickering continued, “The government may have a target for net zero by 2050, but these Scorecards results show that they are not doing enough to support communities and councils across the UK to decarbonise. With both devolution and Local Government Reorganisation set to change council structures in Lancashire, we want to see a legal duty to tackle climate change embedded in the new authorities created, as the Greater London Authority already has. Doing this would ensure councils have the funds and powers to protect residents from flooding, air pollution and rising energy prices that we know that residents care about, and allow councils to work beyond the next election cycle.”
Across the country, councils run by different political parties all saw their scores increase, showing commitment to cutting costs and improving the lives of residents by tackling the climate emergency. This aligns with residents’ desires: the most recent poll in the UK showed that 72% of people, up 8% since 2022, are concerned about the impacts of climate change.