2025 Action Scorecards

Action Scorecards 2025

Planning & Land Use

This section focuses primarily on how councils are using their planning powers, primarily through their Local Plans, to ensure low emission new buildings and homes, as well as ensuring new developments are built to minimise their environmental impact. This section also covers the renewable energy generation and fossil fuel generation planning applications in the area.

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Average score by council type

Single Tier

43% Average score

District

28% Average score

County

-33% Average score

Northern Ireland

12% Average score

Combined Authority

This section does not apply to Combined Authorities. Visit the following equivalent section:

Section: Planning & Biodiversity (CA)

Key takeaways

9 infographics for you to download and share.

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Questions in this section

Table by type of council

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Single Tier District County Northern Ireland

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You’ll find more options, like the ability to compare your council’s Scorecard with other councils, and see a more granular breakdown of how they did on each question of the Scorecards.

Questions	Councils with full marks per question
Questions:
3.10b Has the council approved any planning applications for new or expanded solar or wind developments, battery storage, or renewable district heat networks since 2020? / Visit question → Criteria Has the council approved any planning applications for new or expanded solar or wind developments, battery storage, or renewable district heat networks since 2020? Points awarded for planning applications approved for new or expanded solar, renewable district heat networks, wind developments or battery storage. A point will be awarded for each planning application, which has been approved up to a maximum of 5. Solar developments must exceed 1 megawatt in capacity. See more criteria clarifications in the full methodology	0% councils got full marks for this question.
3.11 Has the council approved a planning application for a carbon intensive energy system to be built or expanded from 2020? / Penalty marks: The maximum number of points for this question is 0. Read more about penalty mark questions. Visit question → Criteria Has the council approved a planning application for a carbon intensive energy system to be built or expanded from 2020? Negatively Scored Question Points deducted if the council has approved or expanded a carbon intensive energy system since 2019. A carbon energy intensive system includes coal mines, fracking/shale gas/gas drilling, oil drilling, and unabated fossil fuel generation. -20% of the maximum possible section score will be deducted if the council has approved or expanded a carbon intensive energy system. See more criteria clarifications in the full methodology	76% councils got no penalty marks for this question.

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