Durham County Council

Climate · drafted 2026-07-01 · accepted · 25 finding(s)

← council-level findings on this theme

30 Jun 2025At the Safer and Stronger Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 30 June 2025, in response to Councillor Heaviside asking what proportion of 20mph limits had been reviewed, the Traffic Management Section Manager said no 20mph scheme was under review because they had all been installed correctly and described the council's 20mph policy as well established — the council recorded no rollback or critical review of existing 20mph schemes. [1]

2 Jul 2025At its County Planning Committee on 2 July 2025, Durham County Council refused a ground-mounted solar farm application: Councillor Bell moved refusal on the grounds of landscape harm (seconded by Councillor S Franklin), and despite officers recommending approval and the Planning Lawyer warning the reason was not sustainable and risked costs at appeal, the Committee resolved that the application be REFUSED for unacceptable harm to the landscape, contrary to County Durham Plan Policies 10, 39 and 33 and Part 15 of the NPPF. [2][3][4]

16 Jul 2025On a motion moved by Councillor D Grimes and seconded by Councillor K Allison, Durham County Council resolved to rescind its Climate Emergency Declaration and instead declare a 'County Durham Care Emergency' prioritising children's social care and SEND. An amendment was lost (24 for, 61 against) and, on a named vote, the substantive motion was carried by 62 votes to 7, with 17 abstentions. [5][6][7][8][9][10]

29 Sep 2025County Durham scrapped its net-zero targets: at its July 2025 meeting the new Reform administration resolved to remove the council's net zero targets and undeclare the climate emergency. The Audit Committee (29 September 2025) recorded that the Climate Change entry was consequently deleted from the Strategic Risk Register because the target it referred to no longer existed. [11]

8 Oct 2025The rollback was confirmed to the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Management Board (8 October 2025): the Head of Environment explained a solar/energy business case had originally been approved when the council held net zero targets by 2030, but the new administration had undeclared the climate emergency and consulted on a New Council Plan, so priorities had changed. [12]

8 Oct 2025Officers told the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Management Board (8 October 2025) that the original solar-panels business case had been approved when the council had a net-zero-by-2030 target and a declared Climate Emergency, but the new Reform administration had since undeclared the Climate Emergency, changing priorities; a scrutiny motion by Cllr Wilkes (call-in requester) to defer the cancellation decision to a working group for further review was lost 8 votes to 9, leaving the cancellation in effect. [13][14]

8 Oct 2025At Cabinet on 17 September 2025, County Durham's Reform administration cancelled the solar panels on council buildings project (part of a wider Capital Review of decarbonisation schemes), removing GBP21.281m from the capital programme of which GBP9.174m was previously self-financing borrowing to be repaid from future energy-cost savings; Deputy Leader/Portfolio Holder for Finance Cllr D Grimes said the decision reflected the administration's mandate and that they had 'passed a democratic verdict in undeclaring climate alarmism', summarising the choice as prioritising care spending over the solar scheme. [15][16][17]

15 Oct 2025Cabinet Portfolio Holder Cllr Grimes told the Cabinet the administration had 'passed a democratic verdict in undeclaring climate alarmism' and was 'choosing wheelchairs over windmills' after cabinet stopped the council's solar-panel investment programme; the Leader repeated the 'wheelchairs over windmills' framing at the 15 October 2025 Cabinet meeting, confirming the administration would not reconsider its climate-emergency stance despite consultation responses showing majority public support for Net Zero. This rhetoric concerns the solar programme and Climate Emergency status, not a wind-farm planning decision. [18][19][20]

29 Oct 2025At the Environment and Sustainable Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 29 October 2025, officers reported budget pressure on the Parks and Countryside service — limited resources and the potential loss of a Ranger post under the Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP 16) — but recorded that the team continued to maximise external funding and delivery through the LNRS and biodiversity net gain, i.e. resourcing strain but no decision to deprioritise the statutory duty. [21]

29 Oct 2025County Durham's Environment and Sustainable Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee reviewed the council's woodland, parks and tree-planting portfolio on 29 October 2025 and recorded that its Durham Woodland Creation programme was continuing (around 60ha created), while flagging budget-related staffing risk to the Woodland Community Coordinator role and a proposed Ranger post deletion under MTFP 16 savings. Rather than adopting a target cut, the Committee resolved to write to the Cabinet Portfolio Holder asking for reconsideration of the Ranger post deletion — no reduction to the tree-planting/woodland-creation programme itself was recorded. [22][23][24]

10 Nov 2025At the Highways Committee on 10 November 2025 the council endorsed, in principle, the introduction of a NEW 20mph Speed Zone with traffic-calming speed cushions at Musgrave Gardens, Gilesgate, following residents' and members' concerns about speeding near a primary school — an expansion of 20mph provision, not a reversal, removal or pause. [25]

11 Feb 2026This was not an isolated decision: at the County Planning Committee on 11 February 2026, officers reported to the Committee that six ground-mounted solar farm applications (two of them including battery energy storage) had been refused by the council, though two of those refusals were later overturned on appeal, with priority given to national climate objectives over local landscape impacts. [26]

16 Feb 2026County Durham Council is proceeding with and expanding public EV charging infrastructure rather than pausing, cancelling or declining funding for it: officers told the Environment and Sustainable Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee (16 Feb 2026) that on completion of LEVI projects 1 and 2 the Council will have installed approximately 650 chargepoints, with a further 450 chargers planned and an additional £3 million secured for 400 more chargepoints on housing association land from 2027. [27][28]

18 Mar 2026At Cabinet on 18 March 2026 the new Reform administration delivered its statutory Local Nature Recovery Strategy on time — the Portfolio Holder for Neighbourhoods, Environment and Police Relations (Cllr Genner) told Cabinet the LNRS was being presented that day — while reframing environmental policy around 'practical environmental stewardship' and pragmatism/cost-efficiency and explicitly rejecting 'performative' climate action. The statutory LNRS duty was therefore carried out, not delayed or scaled back. [29][30][31]

The scrapped target was later cited as a budget saving: at Full Council on 18 February 2026, Deputy Leader Councillor Grimes reported that £2.2 million had been generated 'by removing the cost of chasing net zero targets', alongside dropping fleet electrification. [32]

At the County Council budget meeting on 18 February 2026 an amendment moved by Councillor C Martin and seconded by Councillor E Scott, seeking a £1.2m capital provision for road safety measures that could include implementing 20mph restrictions in communities, was lost — the council declined to add funding for new 20mph provision (not a removal of existing schemes). [33][34]

On 16 July 2025 County Durham Council voted to rescind its Climate Emergency Declaration of 20 February 2019, moved by Councillor D Grimes and seconded by Councillor K Allison as part of a wider motion declaring a 'County Durham Care Emergency'; a Liberal Democrat/opposition amendment to strip the rescission out was defeated 24-61 (1 abstention), and the substantive motion (including the rescission) was then carried 62-7 with 17 abstentions. [35][36][37]

Following the July 2025 rescission of the Climate Emergency Declaration, County Durham's County Durham Environment Partnership (successor to the former Environment and Climate Change Partnership) confirmed at its board that the Climate Emergency Response Plan (CERP) — the council's carbon reduction/climate action plan, which under CERP 3 had run to 232 actions across eight themes — has been withdrawn, with only preliminary officer-level work begun on a new, unpublished 'Environmental Plan' to replace it. [38][39]

A Quarter 3 capital budget monitoring report to Cabinet (part of the MTFP16 update) records that County Durham repaid unspent Home Upgrade Grant (HUG) funding to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) before the March 2025 deadline, reducing the council's 'Green Homes - Home Upgrade Grant' capital budget by £0.185 million as a result. [40]

County Durham's Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) was not cut but expanded in its Q2 2025/26 budget monitoring: the council received an extra £0.5m of DfT BSIP grant for the Milburngate Transport Hub (Tranche 2) plus a further £0.25m of BSIP funding routed through NECA for Walking and Cycling, and a Bus Franchising Scheme Assessment was in preparation as of February 2026 -- a continuation/expansion, not a rollback. [41]

Separately, Cabinet's Medium Term Financial Plan (16) 2026/27-2029/30 (reported 19 Nov 2025) proposed a general savings package for Transport and Contract Services that removes two commercially unviable, low-usage subsidised bus routes (35A and 104) to save £0.201m, alongside bus fare increases and a reduction in the ENCTS concessionary-fares budget; this is a general local bus subsidy budget cut, not framed in the documents as a BSIP or zero-emission-bus commitment cut. [42]

County Durham's adopted Local Plan (the County Durham Plan) pre-dates the government's net-zero policy shift, and officers describe the ongoing plan review as a chance to refresh rather than a decision to remove or weaken any energy standard; no vote or motion to drop/dilute net-zero or energy-efficiency housing standards is recorded. [43]

As of the February 2026 scrutiny report on the incoming NPPF, officers confirmed the new County Durham Plan (successor to the CDP) is being prepared with renewable and low-carbon energy as a major theme, not a reduced one, and that the new NPPF will require the Council to identify suitable areas for renewable/low-carbon energy - the opposite direction of a standards rollback. [44]

No evidence found of County Durham rejecting, revoking or weakening a Clean Air Zone, Air Quality Management Area action plan, or workplace parking levy: the corpus contains no mention of a CAZ or workplace parking levy ever being proposed for the county, and the Reform-led administration's own Council Plan 2025-2030 retains the Durham City Air Quality Management Area and Air Quality Action Plan as live strategic commitments, describing ongoing delivery of the plan's actions rather than any rejection or weakening. [45][46]

At the 28 January 2026 full Council meeting, the Reform-led majority voted down an opposition amendment (moved by Cllr E Scott, seconded by Cllr M Wilkes) that would have committed the council to continue its clean energy programme including onshore wind, and instead carried Cllr Genner's original motion resolving to move the council's environmental approach 'away from a protect at all costs approach' toward exploiting oil, gas, coal, lithium and geothermal resources for economic growth. [47][48][49][50]

References (50)
  1. Minutes, 30 June 2025 “No 20mph scheme was being reviewed as they had all been installed correctly.”
  2. Minutes, 2 July 2025 “Councillor Bell moved a motion to refuse the application on the grounds of landscape harm. He suggested that the Council required a strategic approach to identify sites going forward. The motion was seconded by Councillor S Franklin.”
  3. Minutes, 2 July 2025 “Resolved That the application be REFUSED for the following reason”
  4. Minutes, 2 July 2025 “the proposal would result in unacceptable harm to the character, quality and distinctiveness of the landscape in conflict with County Durham Plan Policies 10 and 39 and Part 15 of the National Planning Policy Framework”
  5. Minutes, 16 July 2025 “Moved by Councillor D Grimes and Seconded by Councillor K Allison”
  6. Minutes, 16 July 2025 “Rescind the Climate Emergency Declaration made on 20th February 2019”
  7. Minutes, 16 July 2025 “Declare a County Durham Care Emergency”
  8. Minutes, 16 July 2025 “24 were for the amendment, 61 were against”
  9. Minutes, 16 July 2025 “there were 62 for, 7 against and there were 17 abstentions”
  10. Minutes, 16 July 2025 “The Substantive Motion was carried”
  11. Minutes, 29 September 2025 “Climate Change had been removed on the back of the Council resolution in July to remove the net zero targets and undeclare a climate emergency. The risk that had been in the Strategic Risk Register related to the Councils ability to hit the net zero target, therefore this was no longer a risk as the target had been scrapped.”
  12. Minutes, 8 October 2025 “original business case was approved at time of net zero targets by 2030 and the response to the climate emergency. The new administration had undeclared a climate emergency and consulted upon a New Council Plan and therefore priorities had changed.”
  13. Minutes, 8 October 2025 “Upon taking a vote: 8 members were in favour and 9 were against. There were no abstentions. The proposal was lost.”
  14. Minutes “The new administration had undeclared a climate emergency and consulted upon a New Council Plan and therefore priorities had changed.”
  15. Minutes, 8 October 2025 “Councillor M Wilkes had requested the call-in to stop the cancellation of the solar panels on council buildings project under the Capital Review of decarbonisation schemes.”
  16. Minutes “the £9.174m of cancelled self financing borrowing”
  17. Minutes “We're choosing wheelchairs over windmills. We're choosing care over carbon and seeing children over solar.”
  18. Minutes “we passed a democratic verdict in undeclaring climate alarmism and prioritising”
  19. Minutes “We're choosing wheelchairs over windmills. We're choosing care over carbon and seeing children over solar.”
  20. Minutes, 15 October 2025 “Will we reconsider our stance on a supposed climate emergency? No”
  21. Minutes, 29 October 2025 “the limited resources and revenue and the potential loss of a Ranger post under the MTFP 16. Despite the challenges, the team continued to maximise external funding and opportunities presented through initiatives such as the LNRS and biodiversity net gain.”
  22. Minutes, 29 October 2025 “Several programmes and initiatives continued to build on the work, including Durham Woodland Creation with around 60ha of woodland being created under the programme.”
  23. Minutes, 29 October 2025 “when the funding ended for the post in approximately two years’ time, the service would no longer be in a position to support the groups”
  24. Minutes, 29 October 2025 “That the Environment and Sustainable Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee write to the relevant Cabinet Portfolio Holder to request the reconsideration of the proposal to delete a Ranger post as part of MTFP 16.”
  25. Minutes, 10 November 2025 “Resolved: Endorsed the proposal, in principle, to introduce the 20mph Speed Zone Order & Traffic Calming Notice, with the final decision to be made by the Corporate Director under delegated powers.”
  26. Minutes, 11 February 2026 “the Committee noted that six solar farm applications (two with BESS) had been refused”
  27. Minutes, 16 February 2026 “on completion of Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) projects 1 and 2, the Council will have installed approximately 650 chargepoints”
  28. Minutes, 16 February 2026 “An additional £3 million in funding was planned for 400 EV chargepoints on housing association land from 2027.”
  29. Minutes, 18 March 2026 “In this meeting today we’ll be presented our new Local Nature Recovery Strategy.”
  30. Minutes, 18 March 2026 “we’ll focus on a practical environmental stewardship. What this means is an approach based on pragmatism, balancing risks and benefits, and delivering cost efficient results”
  31. Minutes, 18 March 2026 “But we will not participate in sanctimonious, performative, climate activism, driven by a set of luxury middle class beliefs, not held by the majority of our residents.”
  32. Minutes “£2.2 million had been generated through this efficiency and by removing the cost of chasing net zero targets.”
  33. Minutes “a one off provision of £1.2m for road safety measures, this could include but not restricted to the implementation of 20mph restrictions in communities”
  34. Minutes “The Amendment was lost.”
  35. Minutes “1. Rescind the Climate Emergency Declaration made on 20th February 2019.”
  36. Minutes “Upon taking a vote on the substantive Motion there were 62 for, 7 against and there were 17 abstentions”
  37. Minutes “The Substantive Motion was carried.”
  38. Document “the Council had previously declared a Climate Emergency, but this has since been rescinded following direction from the current administration. Work is now underway to develop a new Environmental Plan to replace the former Climate Emergency Response Plan.”
  39. Document “following the withdrawal of the CERP”
  40. Document “Planning and Housing - a budget reduction of £0.185 million was applied to the Green Homes – Home Upgrade Grant (HUG) programme following the repayment of unspent grant funding before the March 2025 deadline to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ).”
  41. Document “£0.500 million of additional grant funding from DfT Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) for Tranche 2 Milburngate Transport Hub, plus £0.250 million additional BSIP funds allocated through NECA to the Walking and Cycling”
  42. Document “Reduction in Local Bus Service Expenditure - a saving of £0.201 million. This proposal recommends the removal of two commercially unviable and under-utilised services, for which there are alternative supplementary journeys on alternative routes provided. The specific routes in scope for reduction are routes 35A and 104.”
  43. Minutes “the CDP had been drafted and approved prior to the green and white papers on climate change and net zero targets.”
  44. Minutes “work had begun on a new County Durham Plan, with renewable and low-carbon energy as a major theme.”
  45. Document “Nitrogen dioxide levels within Durham City Air Quality Management Area”
  46. Document “we will deliver the actions within the Durham City Air Quality Action Plan, including transport measures, creating awareness, and driving behavioural change and public transport and active travel improvements.”
  47. Minutes “This County commits to continuing its diverse clean energy programme which includes on -shore wind, biomass, lithium and photovoltaics”
  48. Minutes “The Amendment was lost.”
  49. Minutes “It’s time to move away from a “protect at all costs’ approach”, and toward an approach of “let’s explore the options and weigh up the pros and cons”.”
  50. Minutes “The Motion was carried.”