Towards faster climate action: our calls to Oxfordshire Councils

What should our priorities be for lobbying and advocacy?

This survey is about the 21 'calls for action' from our recent report ‘In Case of Emergency, on the actions we want to see taken by our local Oxfordshire councils – the County, the City and the four Districts. They are based on existing local policies, on the responses to the survey, and on current national climate policy issues.

We need to focus our efforts. We therefore need to decide which of these should be priorities for advocacy and lobbying in the near future. We therefore invite you to help us and select those which you think are priorities. You can access the report here: https://www.oxfoe.co.uk/oxford-friends-of-the-earth/climate-action/climatesurvey/

Some councils have already implemented some of these recommendations. We welcome that and encourage them to share learning with others. While all the councils have set long term targets, we strongly encourage our councils to focus now on reducing emissions in the next four years. The sooner that emissions start to fall rapidly, the lower the total emissions will be on the route to a zero carbon county, and the easier it will be to reach that goal.

The calls for action are in the survey box below. Some are edited to save space- a complete set (as in the report) are here: https://www.oxfoe.co.uk/climatesurvey/

Following the main question there are a few short questions about you - these are optional but help us know that we have gathered responses from a wide range of people. If you leave your email we will keep you posted om the results and next steps.

Question Title

* 1. What issues should local action focus on? Please choose seven from the 21 choices

We call on all Oxfordshire councils to work together to:

1. Develop a county-wide route map to take us to ‘net zero’ before 2040 with year-on-year emission reduction targets and integrated with the Oxfordshire 2050 plan

2. Introduce suitable measures and indicators of progress towards net zero and to publish an annual report showing progress against these key performance indicators.

We call on each council to:

3. Ensure that Local Plan updates put the need to reach net zero at their core.

4. Develop a Carbon Management Plan to reduce their carbon emissions from all activities and link this clearly to their Local Plan and Climate Action Plan.

5. Set a clear carbon budget (at departmental level), with the Cabinet monitoring progress as it does on financial targets.

6. Ensure that all departments within the Council have designated staff with the skills and training to manage that sections’ part of the carbon budget.

7. Offer training on climate change and Council action plans to all staff where this may be relevant, and to all councillors.

8. Implement a cross-departmental system for climate impact reporting using common measures and indicators throughout all councils.

9. Review current spending plans in the light of their climate impact.

10. Ensure that staff working with local communities feel confident to discuss this aspect of the councils’ work.

11. Develop and implement procurement strategies that include the delivery of council carbon targets as part of the ‘best value’ criteria.

12. Recognise that the transition to zero carbon must be fair and just carry out an equalities impact assessment (EIA) of their climate change plans.

Energy use

13. Cooperate to set a common zero carbon standard for new homes and other buildings, and to establish an ‘Innovation Zone’ across the county

14. Set up a County Emergency Retrofit Task Force to plan and deliver energy saving measures in homes and buildings across the county and to join those calling for a properly scaled and funded national programme.

15. Switch to sustainable electricity providers, and do this so that they support the development of additional renewable energy.

Transport

16. We call on the County Council to ensure that the proposed Local Transport and Connectivity Plan (LTCP) sets out a ‘road map’ for delivering a zero carbon transport system as the central priority and is fully aligned with the Oxfordshire 2050 Plan and with the proposed county route map to net zero

17. We call on the councils that are planning authorities to ensure that new development is delivered in such a way as to make active travel, public and shared transport the ‘Natural First Choice’.

Biodiversity

18. Review how far planning committees are integrating the climate and nature commitments made by their councils into their decision-making processes.

19. Develop a local Nature Recovery Strategy (in line with current national proposals) in collaboration with local environmental organisations.

20. Support the proposal to double tree cover across the county by 2045 and to develop tree planting plans towards this goal.

National Action

21. We call on our councils to support calls from civil society for a clear government plan that shows how they will enable and fund local councils to help deliver the UK climate change targets of cutting emissions by 78% by 2035 and to reach zero carbon emissions by 2050.