Case studies

Lewes District Council adopted a new corporate plan in February 2020, following the declaration of a climate emergency in July 2019. The corporate plan, ‘Reimagining Lewes District’, set out the council’s ambitions to achieve net carbon zero whilst continuing to embed community wealth building principles within the district. This case study sets out how delivery has progressed since.

In December 2020, the East Lindsey District Council successfully secured £2.2million from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) for Green Homes Grants. Over the next 18 months, a team was built, contractors were procured, and 192 properties received energy efficiency upgrades to help make them warmer, more affordable to run and less impactful on the environment through reduced carbon emissions.

The Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 gave councils the responsibility for the licensing of scrap metal dealers and collectors, as well as the enforcement of the licensing regime alongside the police.

Assessing the carbon impacts of development proposals and identifying the most cost effective methods of achieving higher performance standards.

Developing better communication with existing local developers.

Ealing council's COVID-19 Vaccine Working Group made important decisions through analysing data on vaccine uptake in the borough to engage communities from low socio-economic groups and ethnic minority backgrounds.

Hampshire County Council partnered with the Greening Campaign, to deliver grassroots projects at a community scale across the borough.

Lancaster West Neighbourhood Team was established following the Grenfell tragedy to provide a suite of management functions including tenancy management, community development and repairs and to deliver a multi-million-pound refurbishment of the 800 homes on the estate.

Cornwall Council have been using the Cornwall Development and Decision Wheel (CDDW) for cabinet decisions since September 2019. The CDDW is based on Doughnut Economics. It has been used to illustrate the positive and negative impacts of the decision being proposed in an easily accessible form that draws decision-makers to key issues that may require further debate, mitigation or even cancellation. Three years into using the CDDW, we have revisited them to understand what Cornwall Council have learnt from embedding it in Cabinet and other decisions and the impact it has had.