Maidstone has come top of all Kent authorities for the credibility of its action plans to tackle climate change.

All councils across the country have been rated by the environmentalist pressure group Climate Emergency UK.

It looked at councils' published policies asking 28 questions such as whether the climate actions were costed; whether the actions were assigned to specific teams; whether the actions had a clear goal; whether local residents were engaged in the campaign, and whether there were specific policies such as de-carbonising waste and house-building.

Maidstone scored 72% - top in the county and was the 6th highest scoring council in the UK.

Medway also did well, coming second in Kent on 71%.

Swale and Tonbridge and Malling were joint third on 64%.

Other authorities had diverse results, with Dartford bringing up the rear, scoring 0%.

Climate Emergency UK said that although Dartford had declared a Climate Emergency in 2019, it had failed to publish any action plans since.

Sevenoaks District Council came in at 54%; Tunbridge Wells at 50%.

Aside from Dartford, every Kent authority scored higher than the national average, which was 40%.

Isaac Beevor, from Climate Emergency UK said: "Councils may be doing good things which aren’t reflected in their action plan.

"Next year we will be assessing all councils on what they are actually doing."

Cllr David Burton, leader of Maidstone council said: "This is an absolutely wonderful accolade for Maidstone, but beyond the plan it is about getting the job done on the day.

"Climate change isn't a stand-alone policy for us; it's about everything we do.

"So when we are looking at waste contracts, we will be looking at recycling, when we consider congestion, we will be looking at air pollution, and when we look to grant planning consents, we will consider sustainability and biodiversity."

His approach was welcomed by Mr Beevor, who said: "Local authorities can help to deliver 30% of the cuts in carbon emissions needed to get to net zero, so it is vital that councils do as much as they can.

“While we understand that councils need much more support and funding from national government, and have been stretched by responding to the pandemic, the fact that some councils have developed well thought-out, costed and ambitious plans, shows that it is possible.”

Climate Emergency UK is a not-for-profit cooperative which has been working with councils and residents since 2019 to share best practice about what councils can do to tackle the climate and ecological emergency and to encourage effective action.

More than one in five councils were found to have no action plan at all.

Somerset West and Taunton District council topped the league with a score of 91%.