Half the councils in the South East have pledged climate action

What started as a trickle is becoming a flood.  The number of local councils in the South East that have declared a climate emergency is growing so fast it’s hard to keep up!

Here’s a roll call of councils that declared in June and July.  Click on the name to find out the details.

5 June 2019 – Winchester City Council (Hampshire) – Declared: council will go carbon neutral by 2024, and the city by 2030

25 June – Rushmoor Borough Council (Hampshire) – Declared: carbon neutral by 2030

25 June – Gravesham Borough Council (Kent) – Declared: carbon neutral by 2030

26 June – Horsham District Council (W.Sussex) – Motion passed

27 June – Swale Borough Council (Kent) – Declared: council will go carbon neutral by 2025, and the borough by 2030

9 July – Surrey County Council – Motion passed (strengthening an earlier motion and pledging to plant 11 million trees by 2050)

9 July – Adur and Worthing Borough Councils (West Sussex) – Declared: carbon neutral by 2030

9 July – Chichester District (West Sussex) – Declared:

9 July – Eastbourne Borough Council (East Sussex) – Declared: carbon neutral by 2030

11 July – Thanet District Council (Kent) – Declared: carbon neutral by 2030

17 July – Crawley Borough Council (West Sussex) – Declared:carbon neutral by 2050 (45% by 2030)

17 July – Tunbridge Wells Borough Council (Kent) – Declared: carbon neutral by 2030

17 July – Elmbridge Borough Council (Surrey) – Declared: carbon neutral by 2030

18 July – Hampshire County Council – Declared: no specific target

18 July – Canterbury City Council (Kent) – Declared: carbon neutral by 2030

18 July – East Hampshire District Council – Declared: carbon neutral by 2050 + 120,000 trees to be planted

24 July – Wealden District Council (East Sussex) – Declared: carbon neutral by 2050

24 July – Folkestone and Hythe District Council (Kent) – Declared: carbon neutral by 2030

25 July – Woking Borough Council (Surrey) – Declared: carbon neutral by 2030

 

UPDATE

The latest tally (updated May 2020) is that 41 district, borough or county councils across Surrey, Sussex, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight and Kent have declared an emergency (shown in green on our progress update below), and a further 15 have passed meaningful climate motions or declarations (shown in yellow).  That’s 56 in total, out of the 57 primary and secondary councils in the five counties.  Click on the chart for details.