Borough council scores above national average in national climate change league table

Hinckley & Bosworth Borough Council ranked second out of all participating Leicestershire district and borough councils, with a score of 33 percent. The national average being 29 percent, from a low of eight percent to the highest score of 47 percent (excluding city councils).

The scorecards are a wholly independent assessment of the climate plans and strategies of councils around the country, with each one being rated using 89 questions in seven different sections.

Each council’s plan was assessed on a range of areas including buildings and heating, transport, planning land use, governance and finance, biodiversity, collaboration and engagement, and waste reduction and food, in early 2023.

The council’s Climate Change Strategy set out ambitions for the borough with specific steps on how to achieve them, and since its declaration in July 2019 has made significant progress, including:

• Delivery of sustainable warmth schemes with 67 households having been accessed
• Completion of a solar panel study across council sites
• Completed a review of council housing to achieve EPC C or above.
• Delivered school’s carbon footprint workshop to over 160 pupils
• Installed 23 electric vehicle charging points in Hinckley, Market Bosworth, Earl Shilton and Barwell (46 sockets)
• Introduced a sustainable events commitment for event organisers and attendees
• Launched our first residents free tree scheme in 2022 resulting in 23,000 trees being planted by residents and community groups in gardens and open spaces.
• Planted six “Tiny Forests” in 2021 and 2022 planting seasons, with 9,318 trees being planted

Executive Member for Climate Change, Cllr Martin Cartwright said: “Above is just an overview of the achievement, a full document of achievements will be produced in due course.

“We are pleased to see that the work undertaken so far on our climate change action programme has been acknowledged.

“Our score of 33% recognises our council's efforts and initiatives are indeed moving us in the right direction. However, we recognise that tackling climate change is an immense challenge. We can all do more to reduce carbon emissions and prevent loss of nature.

“While we celebrate our achievement, we remain dedicated to creating a sustainable future for our community. This fuels our determination to forge ahead in the fight against climate change. We plan to deliver a newly updated strategy in early 2024.

“I would like to thank councillors, officers, partner organisations, business, homeowners and school children for the collective efforts that are steadily making a difference to borough’s residents.”