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The Local Government Association (LGA) has shelved work on a statutory climate change duty for councils after opposition from Reform UK and Conservatives, The MJ can reveal.It comes as the annual United Nations climate talks kicked off this week and despite an LGA report saying last year its ‘headline position' would be for local authorities to be handed ‘statutory backing, sufficient funding and robust support to lead on climate action'.Labour, Liberal Democrat, Independent and Green groups are understood to have backed the view that councils should lead on climate change mitigation and be able to request statutory duties where these were fully funded.Under the LGA's governance arrangements, a position can be adopted on a majority basis when at least four of its six political groups agree but its neighbourhoods committee has decided not to do any further work.An LGA insider said: ‘I don't think there's the political will there at the moment. It's not a top priority for politicians of the organisation.'The insider claimed the release of research the LGA commissioned on the cost and legal implications of a duty, which was quietly published last week, had been delayed due to opposition from Reform.Some senior political sources who had expected the research to have been published weeks ago are understood to have been growing increasingly frustrated by the failure to publish the research.Neighbourhoods committee minutes revealed the project had been passed to the LGA's political group leaders for consideration by 9 September, but the research was not published for another two months. As recently as last Tuesday, the LGA said there was no timeline for publication.One insider said: ‘Reform was completely against this being in the public domain. That's where it's all been stuck for a while.'The report estimated the first-year cost of a duty to councils in England at between £23m and £54m, falling to between £8.5m and £16.9m a year after that.At ‘effective' compliance, which the report said was the level needed for the duty to work in practice, the first-year cost per council would be about £150,500 for a district, £151,600 for a county and £195,200 for a single-tier council.Reform group leader Cllr Stephen Atkinson said: ‘Now that the findings are published, we believe the financial implications speak for themselves and hope they put the prospect of additional statutory climate duties firmly to bed. We opposed the project, voted against continuing the research and repeatedly challenged its direction with successive chairs and senior leadership.‘Councils need fewer statutory duties, not more. Reform fundamentally opposes imposing further net zero obligations on councils already struggling to deliver essential services. Instead of continually asking what more councils should be required to do, we should be asking what government can stop requiring them to do, giving councils the freedom to deliver on local priorities.'Conservative group leader Cllr Kevin Bentley said the research ‘should not progress any further' and the LGA should ‘brief and lobby' against such a ‘legal imposition should any Government ever try to go down this route, given the billions it would cost to the sector'.The Liberal Democrat group is understood to want the LGA to back a statutory duty on climate change.LGA Liberal Democrat spokesperson on climate change Cllr Victor Chamberlain said: ‘We backed this research because Liberal Democrats want councils to have the funding and powers to take effective action on the climate emergency.‘A properly funded statutory climate duty could give this work a stronger foundation, with clear responsibilities matched by resources and powers from government. Any new duty must be fully funded, protecting already stretched local services.‘This research helps establish what those responsibilities would involve and what they would cost. It strengthens our case to ministers: if government is serious about tackling the climate emergency, it must empower councils and fund them to deliver.'The LGA declined to comment.

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CLIMATE CHANGE

Exclusive: LGA shelves statutory climate duty

By Dan Peters | 12 November 2026

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