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We’re in the top ten district councils in the UK for action on climate and nature

South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse District councils are in the top ten performing district councils in the country for taking action on climate and nature recovery, according to research by an environmental organisation.

Both councils, which have just published their new joint nature and climate action plan, were rated in the top ten of the Climate Emergency UK’s (CEUK) 2025 climate action scorecard, a league table of the country’s councils published earlier this month.

South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse scored highly for ‘planning and land use’.  In this section CEUK’s research focussed on how councils are using their planning powers, primarily through their local plans, (the emerging Joint Local Plan is currently at examination stage), to ensure low emission new buildings, homes and developments are built to minimise their impact on the environment.

The councils also did well in the scoring for the ‘biodiversity’ section which examines actions by local authorities to protect and increase biodiversity in the area through their management of its green spaces and biodiversity net gain requirements for developers. Biodiversity Net Gain requires developers to include wildlife enhancements as part of their plans.

Councillor Sam James-Lawrie, South Oxfordshire District Council cabinet member for environment. said: “This is very positive news for the council, its staff and its residents. The councils have developed forward-looking planning policies on climate change in the emerging joint local plan to help minimise the climate impact of the built environment in our districts.  This includes a policy that will require truly net zero carbon buildings to be delivered in the districts.”

Councillor Hayleigh Gascoigne, Vale of White Horse District Council cabinet member for climate action and nature recovery, said: “We welcome this news which highlights the work being done by staff, particularly on the management of our green spaces. For the past three years the grounds maintenance team has been encouraging biodiversity on council land and now has dozens of meadow areas in the districts which are left unmown. This is in addition to wildflower meadow area sites which are actively sown with wildflower seeds to encourage pollinators such as bees.”

Both councils are committed to becoming carbon neutral by 2030, significantly ahead of the national 2050 target.

Notes to editors

CEUK is a cooperative which has been working with councils and residents since 2019 to share best practice about what councils can do to tackle the climate and ecological emergency and to encourage effective action.

For the scorecard, CEUK assessed all UK councils on the actions they’ve taken towards achieving net zero. The assessment consisted of up to 93 questions, depending on council type, across seven sections.

Each council was marked against these criteria before the scores underwent a final audit earlier this year.

More info on the council’s climate pages.

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