Skip to main content
People & Awareness /

PA3Develop a Council's Climate Change Risk Assessment and Action Plan

Progress

On time
  • Discussion
  • Not started
  • Initial scoping
  • Planning stage
  • Underway
  • Completed
To develop a Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA) and Action Plan specific to Stevenage Borough Council working in conjunction with other local authorities within Hertfordshire County Council as part of an adaptation sub-group.

The aims of developing the Climate Change Risk Assessment and Action Plan are as follows:

  1. To guarantee that as a county, we can be assured that we are prepared for any predicted climatic changes and can confidently mitigate or adapt where needed against them.
  2. Improve organisational awareness of climate change risks within SBC.
  3. To integrate climate risks into our corporate and service risk registers.

The process will involve using the Met Office UKCP18 climate predictions for our local region which states the following:

The Hertfordshire area will experience:

  • Wetter winters and drier summers with greater potential for extreme rainfall events;
  • Warmer winters and hotter summers with greater potential for heatwaves;
  • Increase in humidity;
  • Reduction in snow fall during winter; and
  • Potential for more intense storms.

Find out more about the county-wide strategic action plan on Adaptation

https://www.hccsp.org.uk/current-priorities.aspx#adaptation

To find out more about the UKCP projections, please visit

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/approach/collaboration/ukcp.

Read more

Tasks

What are we doing?

  • Todo03/2025

    Update the CCRA aligned with a DEFRA Adaptation Reporting Power (ARP) pilot project

    SBC is currently working on updating its first CCRA and meeting the guidance from DEFRA on adaptation reporting. Adaptation reporting is not compulsory for SBC, and this is developed in the context of a pilot project.

  • Todo12/2025

    Incorporate identified climate risks into the Operational Risks

    Work with the SBC risk lead to incorporate the risks into their relevant service register or corporate register.

What has been done?

  • Done06.08.2024

    SBC First Climate Change Risk Assessment

    Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA) formalised and presented for approval by the Senior Leadership Team (SLT).

  • Done14.06.2024

    Service leads to review identified climate risks draft

    Service leads to be provided with draft risks and to comment on validity, impact level and likelihood level. A risk score is to be made in collaboration with the climate officer. Mitigation methods to also be discussed for action plan.

  • Done10.04.2024

    Climate Action team to draft climate risks

    Officer to draft climate risks perceived to impact the council near-term, i.e. by 2030, with the aim that these will be discussed to the heads of services for collaboration.

  • Done30.06.2023

    Complete an Extreme Weather Survey

    Survey to establish baselines in how we record impacts of extreme weather events such as heatwaves, storms and drought. Assessing how well we managed those events, the factors that enabled us to cope with them, and ideas for improvement.

Related actions

Timeline

09/02/2024 →

Responsible organisations

Information updated 11.02.2025