Staffordshire County Council

Climate · drafted 2026-07-01 · accepted · 20 finding(s)

← council-level findings on this theme

9 Oct 2025Staffordshire County Council resolved to rescind its Climate Emergency Declaration. On a motion moved by Councillor Mynors and seconded by Councillor Murray, a rival amendment was lost and the substantive motion was carried, resolving to 'Rescind the Climate Emergency Declaration made in July 2019' and, 'rather than chasing long-term targets', to focus on value-for-money environmental action and a new Environmental Strategy; asked directly whether the council would revoke the 2019 declaration, the cabinet replied 'Yes'. [1][2][3][4][5]

9 Oct 2025At Full Council on 9 October 2025, Councillor Mynors moved (seconded by Councillor Murray) a motion to rescind the July 2019 Climate Emergency Declaration and abandon the council's long-term Net Zero targets, replacing them with a new non-target "Environmental Strategy"; the stated rationale was that the pursuit of Net Zero had been "a distraction" and that the council "does not need... long-term Net Zero targets". A Labour amendment to retain climate-mitigation duties was lost and the substantive rescinding motion was carried. [6][7][8][9]

15 Oct 2025At Cabinet on 15 October 2025 Staffordshire County Council confirmed the Cabinet Member for Connectivity's decision to withdraw from the Midlands Connect LEVI Consortium, cancelling the previously procured Phase 1 on-street EV charging rollout, and instead directed officers to prepare a new business case for the remaining 90% of its LEVI capital funding (for charging points on council-owned land such as car parks) to be submitted to the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles. [10][11][12]

28 Oct 2025The Reform administration moved climate-change scrutiny off the Corporate Overview & Scrutiny Committee's work programme and renamed the climate action plan: in Oct 2025 the climate change annual report / action plan (now called a 'Renewable energy strategy') was moved to a different scrutiny committee, and in Jan 2026 the administration recorded that it did not believe climate change needed to be explicitly referenced to manage extreme weather. [13][14]

28 Oct 2025A standing 'Climate change annual report' work-programme item was renamed to 'Renewable energy strategy' and moved from Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee to the Economy, Infrastructure and Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee (28 October 2025), with a member challenging the move because strategic priorities had not yet been set. [15]

17 Nov 2025Staffordshire's new Environmental Strategy, approved by Cabinet on 17 December 2025 to replace the Climate Change Strategy after the county withdrew its Climate Emergency Declaration, dropped the emissions-based indicators the previous Climate Change Strategy had used to measure progress; at Scrutiny on 17 November 2025 the Cabinet Member for Connectivity was pressed on this and only committed to keep reporting renewable-energy figures informally, not to reinstate the emissions indicators. [16][17]

11 Dec 2025On 11 December 2025 Staffordshire County Council passed a Notice of Motion, moved by Councillor Mynors and seconded by Councillor Large, resolving that on County Council-owned farmland it will not support renewable energy production and storage, and endorsing the Cabinet's 19 November 2025 position that the County Farms Estate will not allow renewable energy production and Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) on farmed land unless agriculture is not significantly impacted; the motion cited food security and the ad hoc siting of such infrastructure on rural farmland. [18][19][20]

11 Dec 2025No evidence was found in Staffordshire County Council's published minutes of an existing own-estate (buildings/schools/land) solar or renewable-generation programme being cut, paused or scaled back. The corpus instead shows the Council declining to commit to NEW own-estate solar: on 11 December 2025, debating a Notice of Motion moved by Councillor Mynors (seconded by Councillor Large) that endorsed Cabinet's 19 November 2025 policy against renewable-energy/BESS development on the council-owned County Farms Estate (agricultural land let to tenant farmers, not the operational estate), Councillor Rose moved and Councillor Hood seconded an amendment asking Cabinet to further investigate solar panels and other renewable-energy initiatives on the council's own car parks and buildings; the amendment was declared lost and Mynors' substantive motion (about County Farms land, not operational buildings) was then carried. [21][22]

17 Dec 2025The council's replacement "Environmental Strategy", approved by Cabinet on 17 December 2025 (Cllr Andrew Mynors), explicitly abandons the net-zero target: its stated reason is that it "reflects the shift in the Council's approach away from long-term Net Zero targets", replacing the climate emergency declaration with a non-target commitment. [23][24]

17 Dec 2025Staffordshire's dedicated climate cabinet portfolio was not retained under the Reform administration. Under the previous administration climate scrutiny recommendations were referred to a 'Cabinet Member for Environment, Infrastructure and Climate Change' (Feb 2025); by Dec 2025 the Council's new Environmental Strategy — which replaced the Climate Change Strategy and reflects the shift away from long-term Net Zero targets — is held by the 'Cabinet Member for Connectivity' (Andrew Mynors), with no cabinet portfolio any longer naming climate change or the environment. [25][26][27]

11 Feb 2026The Environmental Action Plan (EAP) that delivers the new Environmental Strategy, discussed at Scrutiny on 11 February 2026, keeps quarterly monitoring and annual reports on CO2 emissions but explicitly drops measurement of those emissions against net-zero targets, i.e. the carbon reduction plan's target-based benchmark was removed even though the reporting cadence continues. [28][29]

12 Feb 2026Staffordshire County Council is an upper-tier authority: its Local Plan involvement is confined to the statutory Minerals and Waste Local Plan (whose 2025-2026 Annual Monitoring Report found existing policies 'operating effectively'), and county leadership has explicitly disavowed responsibility for the housing Local Plans made by its constituent district/borough councils (e.g. Newcastle-under-Lyme, Stafford Borough, South Staffordshire), which are the documents that would set net-zero/energy-efficiency housing standards. No published county-level minutes, decisions, or reports between 2025-05 and 2026-06 record any proposal to drop, dilute, or decline to adopt net-zero, low-carbon, or above-Building-Regs energy-efficiency standards for new housing in a Local Plan. [30][31]

18 Feb 2026Staffordshire County Council (Reform-led) approved the publication of its updated Natural Environment Strategy and Biodiversity Report at Cabinet (scrutinised February 2026, Cabinet 18 March 2026), presented by Cabinet Member for Communities and Culture Hayley Coles as the council's response to the Environment Act 2021 biodiversity duty; the report frames the work as strengthening biodiversity and supporting nature recovery — on-track statutory delivery, not a delay, deprioritisation or scaling back. [32][33][34]

18 Mar 2026On 18 March 2026 Cabinet, on the County Farms Policy Statement presented by Acting Leader Martin Murray, endorsed a policy position that large-scale solar farms and battery farms using large areas of agricultural land will not be supported on the Staffordshire County Farms Estate, with farmland to be protected for farming. [35]

27 Mar 2026On 27 March 2026 the Staffordshire Pensions Committee declined to continue the Staffordshire Pension Fund's dedicated Climate Change Strategy (which had set a net-zero investment portfolio target for 2050 with 2030 interim objectives), voting instead to fold climate provisions into a not-yet-drafted, wider Responsible Investment and Stewardship Policy due in 2026; officers framed this as consolidation ahead of anticipated legislation, and the vote (by show of hands) was unanimous. [36][37][38]

The council's prior climate framework had set a net-zero target date: work of the Climate Change Working Group referenced encouraging renewable technologies "to support the transition towards net zero emissions by 2050" - the long-term target subsequently abandoned by the October/December 2025 decisions. [39]

On 19 November 2025 Cabinet adopted a formal Renewable Energy Policy Position, brought by Cabinet Member for Connectivity Andrew Mynors, objecting to the uncontrolled growth of renewable energy and battery storage sites on rural and agricultural land and calling on Government to rebalance land use for food security; Cllr Mynors was tasked with articulating these concerns back to Government. [40]

Staffordshire County Council is the Responsible Authority for preparing the Local Nature Recovery Strategy for Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent under the Environment Act, with the LNRS scheduled for Cabinet consideration on 15 July 2026; the forward plan records it as being delivered with supporting authorities and partners, showing no delay, deferral or deprioritisation of the statutory duty. [41][42]

The only retrofit/decarbonisation-grant decision found in Staffordshire's published corpus is a Cabinet (Leader) decision APPROVING the spend plans for the Warm Homes: Local Grant, to fund thermal improvements to homes between April 2025 and March 2028 — i.e. accepting and spending the grant, not declining, handing back or underspending it. No published minutes, decision notices or reports were found recording Staffordshire declining to bid for, returning, or materially underspending Warm Homes/Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund, Home Upgrade Grant or Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme funding. [43]

No cut or scaling-back of Staffordshire's Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) or zero-emission bus commitments is recorded in the published corpus; forward-plan and decision-notice entries from September 2025 through mid-2026 instead show Cabinet delegating officer-level powers (under Cabinet Member for Connectivity Andrew Mynors) to ensure continued delivery of the 'Politically Approved Bus Service Improvement Plan', including a Real Time Passenger Information infrastructure contract procured from JMW Systems Ltd funded via a BSIP Grant Award Letter. [44]

References (44)
  1. Minutes, 9 October 2025 “Councillor Mynors moved, and Councillor Murray seconded, the following motion”
  2. Minutes, 9 October 2025 “Rescind the Climate Emergency Declaration made in July 2019”
  3. Minutes, 9 October 2025 “Rather than chasing long-term targets we will focus on protecting and enhancing our environment”
  4. Minutes, 9 October 2025 “Members then debated the substantive motion and, following a vote, the Chairman declared the motion”
  5. Minutes, 9 October 2025 “revoke the Climate Emergency declaration made by the previous Conservative administration in 2019? Reply Yes”
  6. Minutes, 9 October 2025 “Councillor Mynors moved, and Councillor Murray seconded, the following motion:”
  7. Minutes, 9 October 2025 “1. Rescind the Climate Emergency Declaration made in July 2019 2. Rather than chasing long-term targets we will focus on protecting and enhancing our environment”
  8. Minutes, 9 October 2025 “The County Council does not need a Climate Emergency and long-term Net Zero targets to fulfil our environmental responsibilities and reduce our own impact on the environment.”
  9. Minutes, 9 October 2025 “Members then debated the substantive motion and, following a vote, the Chairman declared the motion “carried””
  10. Minutes, 15 October 2025 “It’s therefore our intention to withdraw from the LEVI consortium so we can direct our allocation of funding to local priority areas.”
  11. Minutes, 15 October 2025 “That the decision made by the Cabinet Member to withdraw”
  12. Minutes, 15 October 2025 “That a new business case be developed for the remaining 90% of LEVI funding, to be prepared by officers, reviewed by the Cabinet Member for Connectivity, and submitted to the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles for feedback.”
  13. Minutes, 28 October 2025 “Climate change annual report – action plan now called Renewable energy strategy had been moved to Economy, Infrastructure and Community Overview and Scrutiny Committee for consideration as this was the more appropriate committee”
  14. Minutes, 15 January 2026 “Administration did not believe climate change needed to be explicitly referenced to manage extreme weather”
  15. Minutes, 28 October 2025 “Climate change annual report – action plan now called Renewable energy strategy had been moved to Economy, Infrastructure and Community Overview and Scrutiny Committee for consideration as this was the more appropriate committee.”
  16. Minutes, 17 November 2025 “The measurement of renewable energy success, without the emissions-based indicators found in the previous Strategy, was questioned.”
  17. Minutes, 17 November 2025 “The Cabinet Member promised to continue reporting figures and monitoring progress and to relay these findings back to Committee.”
  18. Minutes, 11 December 2025 “Councillor Mynors moved, and Councillor Large seconded, the following motion”
  19. Minutes, 11 December 2025 “For County Council owned farmland, we will not support the provision of renewable energy production and storage until we are satisfied the Government has provided a much more coherent policy position to address the many conflicts.”
  20. Minutes “development on farmed land within its property portfolio unless it does not significantly impact agriculture / dairy / livestock farming”
  21. Minutes, 11 December 2025 “Councillor Rose moved, and Councillor Hood seconded, the following Amendment: “To amend the motion by the addition of the following recommendation – (d) That the Cabinet further investigates renewable energy production and initiatives (e.g. solar panels) on Council owned cark parks, buildings and other suitable sites.” Following a debate, the Chairman declared the Amendment lost.”
  22. Minutes, 11 December 2025 “We support the decision of the Cabinet at their meeting on 19 November 2025 that the County Council, which owns a successful County Farms Estate, will not be allowing renewable energy production and Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) development on farmed land within its property portfolio unless it does not significantly impact agriculture”
  23. Minutes, 17 December 2025 “Staffordshire County Council has refocused its environmental approach, replacing its climate emergency declaration with a broader more practical commitment.”
  24. Minutes, 17 December 2025 “To consider the Council’s new Environmental Strategy which reflects the shift in the Council’s approach away from long- term Net Zero targets”
  25. Minutes “referred to the Cabinet Member for Environment, Infrastructure and Climate Change to consider and provide an executive response to the recommendations within two months”
  26. Minutes, 17 December 2025 “Andrew Mynors, Cabinet Member for Connectivity”
  27. Minutes, 17 December 2025 “reflects the shift in the Council’s approach away from long- term Net Zero targets”
  28. Minutes, 11 February 2026 “The EAP ensures legal compliance and measurable delivery across statutory areas, through quarterly monitoring of each action, annual reports to Scrutiny and clear reporting lines through governance boards.”
  29. Minutes, 11 February 2026 “The monitoring of CO₂ emissions will continue without measurement against net-zero targets.”
  30. Minutes, 4 June 2026 “The latest Annual Monitoring Report concluded that existing Minerals and Waste Local Plan policies are operating effectively, with targets being met.”
  31. Minutes, 12 February 2026 “It is part of the Local Plan and is nothing to do with us.”
  32. Document “The Environment Act 2021 introduced a ‘biodiversity duty’ for public authorities in England. Staffordshire County Council addressed this duty through the production and adoption of its Natural Environment Strategy.”
  33. Minutes, 18 February 2026 “Our updated Natural Environment Strategy sets out how we will strengthen biodiversity, safeguard habitats and support nature recovery across Staffordshire.”
  34. Minutes, 18 February 2026 “That the publication of the updated Natural Environment Strategy and Biodiversity Report be approved.”
  35. Minutes, 18 March 2026 “large scale ‘Solar Farms’ and ‘Battery Farms’ which would use large areas of agricultural land will not be supported on the Staffordshire County Farms Estate”
  36. Minutes, 27 March 2026 “an alternative approach to having a separate Climate Change Strategy would be to consolidate responsible investment and stewardship beliefs into a single policy, with climate change addressed within that wider framework”
  37. Minutes, 27 March 2026 “That the continuation of the Staffordshire Pension Fund’s Climate Change Strategy is not approved in favour of replacing it with a wider Responsible Investment and Stewardship Policy, which will be developed in 2026.”
  38. Minutes, 27 March 2026 “All Committee members voted in favour of option b.”
  39. Minutes “the transition towards net zero emissions by 2050”
  40. Decisions “allowing an uncontrolled growth of renewable energy and battery storage sites without full consideration of the issues and how they are affecting local communities”
  41. Document “Staffordshire County Council is the Responsible Authority for the preparation of the LNRS for Staffordshire and Stoke, working with supporting authorities and wider partners to deliver this key duty under the Environment Act.”
  42. Document “To consider the Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS) which will identify priorities for nature recovery across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent.”
  43. Decisions “Staffordshire Warmer Homes - Approval of the Spend plans for the Warmer Homes - Local Grant (Exemption paragraph 3) Reason for the Decision – To consider approving the expenditure of the Warm Homes: Local Grant to make thermal improvements to people’s homes between April 2025 and March 2028. Decision – That the recommendations contained in the report be approved.”
  44. Document “Cabinet approval for Delegation of Powers to Officer Level to ensure delivery of Staffordshire County Council’s Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) as per recent Grant Award Letter through the Crown Commercial Services Transport Technology & Associated Services Framework Agreement.”