West Northamptonshire Council

This award is open to a single council or where appropriate a partnership of councils, or a council-owned company. Private sector or public sector partners can enter on a council’s behalf, with the permission of the council itself. Councils are uniquely placed to effect change in response to the climate crisis. This award is intended to mark excellence in any aspect of a council’s work in addressing the carbon footprint of the council, its services and its broader local area. Entries may include work to capture climate benefits from changed behaviours or work with local businesses and communities to address the climate crisis, to both enable economic growth and secure environmental improvements. Entries will be judged on the innovation of their submissions, the extent to which it has delivered measurable change, the quality of evidence of support from local communities, and the ability for other councils to replicate the work.

West Northamptonshire Council is a new council with a bold new vision for responding to the climate crisis and achieving net zero by 2030. Working with our communities we’ve launched Sustainable West Northants, a fresh approach towards achieving environmental, social and economic sustainability. Formed two years ago, we’ve had to start from scratch, needing new strategies, resources, work plans and baseline data and building upon early activities from the legacy councils. But in just 12 months we’ve achieved so much, engaging our communities and expanding use of carbon-reducing innovation and technology including e-scooters, electric chargepoints and robot deliveries.