Council Plan 2023 to 2027

A Greener Kensington and Chelsea

A graphic of two large circles and one small circle. The large circle at the top is photo of a bee keeper collecting honeycomb from the beehive. The circle at the bottom slightly overlaps the first circle and has a bright green background with white text that says “Parks. The Council manager over 30 parks and open spaces including 10 with green flag status.” To the left-hand side of these two circles is a third, smaller, white circle with a drawing of two hands holding a flower.  The drawing is light Green.

We want to deliver greener neighbourhoods, cleaner air, and healthier lives for everyone who lives here. Parks and open spaces and well-maintained streets are valued by our residents and are important to everyone’s quality of life. That means preserving and enhancing the borough’s neighbourhoods, green spaces, and exceptionally clean streets.

Air pollution in Kensington and Chelsea has reduced by half over the last 15 years. Reducing emissions from vehicles and buildings is an important part of achieving better air quality. The Council has supported more electric vehicle chargers than almost anywhere else in the country. Making our own buildings greener and supporting others to do so is at the forefront of our approach. We have invested £8 million into our schools to make them more energy efficient, all our council homes greener, and work is underway on the Lancaster West Estate to make it carbon neutral by 2030.

We are committed to helping our community become more environmentally conscious and supporting the borough to reach the national net zero targets. To do this, we will promote and encourage environmentally friendly practices and work with local businesses and residents to support them to make sustainable decisions. By helping others take this action, we can help Kensington and Chelsea become a greener borough for everyone.

A graphic of a large circle and a small circle. The large circle on the left hand side is a photo of a large pond with trees surrounding it. The circle on the right-hand side slightly overlaps the circle on the left and has a bright green background with white text that says “Air pollution in Kensington and Chelsea has reduced by half over the last 15 years.”

Parks and open spaces

We will:

  • Continue to invest in and maintain our parks, promoting biodiversity and well-being. Including delivering a new interim open space and sports area (subject to land agreements) at Cremorne Wharf, Chelsea Riverside.
  • Ensure Landowners at Kensal and Earl’s Court prioritise green spaces in their plans and encourage landowners to include new parks in masterplans.
  • Continue to improve public squares and spaces, with investment in the public realm at Lots Road, Portobello Road, Bute Street and Cremorne Wharf. Alongside small local improvements in every ward over the next four years.

Clean air and clean streets

We will:

  • Aim to have the cleanest, best maintained streets in London. This includes removing litter, dog mess and autumn leaves promptly; regularly emptying the 500 litter bins we provide across the borough; and ensuring any offensive graffiti and large fly tips are investigated and removed within 24 hours where possible.
  • Maintain twice weekly bin collections and begin rolling out electric vehicles to collect waste.
  • Increase recycling rates and introduce food waste collections.
  • Improve biodiversity and protect and enhance habitats across the borough, including planting wildflower meadows in our parks and expanding our Bee superhighway.
  • Plant 400 new trees across the borough to enhance our streets, estates, and green spaces.
A graphic of a large square with a light green background and dark green border and text in dark green which says “Electric charging. We have installed 782 Electric vehicle chargers: over 99% of households are within 200 metres of a charge point and over 80% within 100 metres.”

Greening

We will:

  • Continue to improve air quality in Kensington and Chelsea by encouraging electric cars, walking, and cycling, and use of public transport.
  • Lead the transition to net zero by making council-owned buildings like our homes and estates, schools, and offices energy efficient.
  • Make it easier for people to make green changes to their own homes, through solar panels, double glazing and heat pumps.
  • Work with businesses and the institutions in South Kensington to make the area a low carbon neighbourhood.
  • Green all our Council homes with double glazing and other measures and ensure any new Council homes are built to green standards.
  • Work with local people to transform Notting Dale ward into an eco-neighbourhood by 2030, upskilling local people to secure green jobs and provide renewable energy for residents’ homes, and we are working with residents on the Lancaster West Estate to retrofit homes to help make the estate carbon neutral by 2030.
A graphic of a large circle and a small circle. The small circle has a light green background with a dark green border. It has a drawing of a rubbish collection vehicle and is drawn in dark green. Underneath is the large circle that slightly overlaps the circle above and has a dark green background with white text that says “Rubbish. The Council collections recycling and rubbish twice weekly from 93,000 households.”
A graphic of a large circle and a small circle. The small circle has a light green background with a dark green border. It has a drawing of a recycling icon – three arrows pointing in circular rotation – and is drawn in dark green. Underneath is the large circle that slightly overlaps the circle above and has a dark green background with white text that says “Recycling. 22% household waste sent for reuse, recycling and composting (during 2022).”

Last updated: 1 March 2023