There are 29 other councils with better climate change policies than Cheshire East.

That's according to organisation Climate Emergency UK, who scored 409 local authorities in the UK on the quality of their climate action plans.

The non-profit assesed strategic frameworks for measuring, planning, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions and related climatic impacts.

Cheshire East Council's score was 66 per cent, and received top marks for setting emissions targets.

The unitary authority which includes Macclesfield performed considerably better than our neighbours Cheshire West and Chester Council, who's result was 53 per cent.

But both Cheshire borough councils placed significantly above the English and Scottish average of 46 per cent.

Cheshire East's mitigation and adaptation scored the worst. And has the most room for improvement.

That categories' poor rating may come as no surprise to some, with the council earmarking carbon-sinks such as the peat bogs at Henbury and near Dane Moss Nature Reserve for housing development.

It is also worth taking this survey with a pinch of salt, as Cheshire East's 'ambitious' net zero targets, which precede government deadlines by five years, have not been met yet.

Infact, Climate Emergency UK has only assessed Action Plans this time, not the actions councils are actually taking to reduce emissions and improve biodiversity.

Cheshire East still have a lot to learn from, as despite not having a city, where pollution is usually higher, two of the three top performing councils were the cities of Edinburgh and Manchester.

Other than the Isle of Wight Council and the aforementioned Manchester City Council, Cheshire East were the highest performing North West council in the survey.

Almost 30 councils finished bottom of the survey, with no climate plans in place at all.

Only 86 councils have an area-wide net-zero target of 2030 or earlier, and 33% of councils had not set a net-zero target of 2050 or earlier, according to the Council Climate Plan Scorecards.

Regarding the methodology, a Climate Emergency UK spokesperson said:

"All UK councils Climate Action Plans that were published online before 20 September 2021 (and written after 2015) were assessed by a team of over 120 volunteers, trained and overseen by Climate Emergency UK. The 28 questions they asked included: whether the climate actions are costed; do the actions have a clear goal; are local residents being engaged with climate action; does the Plan include strategies to decarbonise waste, planning, homes and other services that the council is responsible for; does it go beyond cutting the council's own emissions and plan to work with others to cut the whole area's emissions, and does the Plan cover areas such as re-skilling the workforce, climate education, governance and funding for climate action."

Annie Pickering, Campaigns and Policy Officer at CE UK, said: "A good Action Plan has the basics covered. This means that the actions are specific and measurable and assigned to teams or departments. It should also be clear how the plan will be monitored as it is implemented.

"Councils may be doing good things which aren't reflected in their Action Plan. That is why next year we will be assessing all councils on what they are actually doing."

So if Cheshire East are saying more than they are actually doing to tackle the climate crisis, they may be caught out next year.

"Local authorities can help to deliver 30% of the cuts in carbon emissions needed to get to net zero, according to the 6th UK Carbon Budget published a year ago, so it is vital that councils do as much as they can".

Only 86 councils have an area-wide net-zero target of 2030 or earlier, and 33% of councils had not set a net-zero target of 2050 or earlier, according to the Council Climate Plan Scorecards.

Miss Pickering added "This year's Scorecards are just the start of the process. It has been an important exercise to understand what makes a good council Climate Action Plan and we hope that it will help councils learn from each other and up their game. A good plan will help a local authority deliver effective actions, while having it easily available on the council website will enable local residents to know what their council has committed to and so hold the council to account.

"While we understand that councils need much more support and funding from the national Government, and have been stretched by responding to the pandemic, the fact that some councils have developed well thought out, costed and ambitious plans, shows that it is possible.

"Last year the National Audit Office criticised the Government for only providing councils with piecemeal funding and powers to deal with the climate emergency. Imagine what council climate action could happen if councils were given adequate funding and powers."

Macclesfield East councillor Mick Warren, who also serves as the Chair of the Environment and Communities Committee, responded to the news positively.

"We welcomed the climate change scorecards produced by Climate Emergency UK, which analysed more than 300 climate action plans produced by UK councils," he said.

"Plans were assessed according to 28 questions across nine categories. The average score for single tier councils was 50 per cent, dropping to 43 per cent for district councils and 40 per cent for county councils.

"Our carbon neutral action plan, which was adopted in May 2020, received a score of 66 per cent, with a higher-than-average marking in seven out of the nine categories. It was pleasing to note that we were one of the top performing councils in the 'Measuring and Setting Emissions Targets' category.

"The carbon reduction projects we have both in place and in the planning stages, will make a significant contribution towards reducing and offsetting our emissions – and we are on track to be a carbon neutral council by 2025."

The Scorecard website and full results can be viewed here.

Macclesfield eco action group Macctastic have been contacted for comment.

Macclesfield: Do you think Cheshire East are doing enough to combat the climate crisis?

See also: Macclesfield: We asked Cheshire East about their 'ambitious' net zero targets.

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