Liberal Democrat councillors have come under fire from opposition Conservatives for “decreasing their targets” to become a greener borough but “telling everyone they are doing well”.

Sutton Council released its 2014-15 One Planet Sutton progress report this week boasting 21 out of its 32 targets had been met or are on track to be met.

But Conservative councillor for Beddington South Neil Garratt said the targets marked as ‘met’ in the report have changed since 2013, and some have been reduced.

He said: “One Planet Sutton is a farce.

“They’ve cut the targets, but still missed them. Behind the glossy report, Sutton has made no progress on this since 2009.

“They should spend the money doing better, not on misleading reports.

“In theory this ought to be a good initiative.

“They keep decreasing the targets and telling everyone they are doing well and that is fundamentally where they are going wrong.”

The authority committed to One Planet Living in 2009 in a move to become a One Planet borough in 2025.

Its targets are set out under five themes: cutting carbon emissions; cutting waste; valuing the environment; supporting healthy communities; and supporting the local economy.

The scheme is a commitment to live within the borough’s fair share of the earth’s resources by 2025.

In 2008 the council pledged its buildings would be powered by renewable energy by 2017, but that target has now changed to a 50 per cent reduction in carbon emissions from council buildings by 2017 – which is not on track to be met.

It has only reduced its carbon emissions by 15 per cent since 2010-11.

In 2013 it was agreed that between 48 and 54 per cent of council staff should be using sustainable transport by 2025. That target was amended to 52.5 per cent by 2017, which has been met according to the latest report.

Recycling has also been high on the One Planet agenda.

In 2014-15 Sutton Council secured £1.1m to set up a team of waste and recycling advisors, improve recycling facilities and create a borough-wide recycling campaign.

While households have met their target for recycling waste, the council itself has had more trouble. In 2014-15 its recycling rate dropped more than 3 per cent, to 53.6 per cent, from the previous year, against a target of 85 per cent by 2017.

In 2013 the authority’s agreed target was to increase recycling from 85 per cent to 95 per cent by 2025.

Councillor Jill Whitehead, chairman of the environment and neighbourhoods committee, said: “Sutton prides itself on being a green borough and I am delighted we are meeting the majority of the One Planet Sutton targets.

“We are one of the best London councils for low carbon emissions and our carbon management plan has saved £1.9m in energy costs over the past five years.

“There is no question that these targets are ambitious, and the work to meet them is made even harder in the current financial climate where our budgets are being cut by government.

“However, we will continue to look for ways to innovate and improve our performance and the One Planet Sutton report is a useful guide to benchmark where we are and see which areas we are succeeding in - and which require more work by the council and our partners.”

In a statement released this week the council said that although it might not reach all its goals by 2017, the overarching aim is for Sutton to become a One Planet Borough by 2025.

Targets have been revised twice since 2009 to reflect changes in national policy and funding to local government, it said.

This year Sutton will introduce a wide variety of projects to help the borough meet the targets, including renovating Whitehall Museum, holding recycling roadshows and creating a low-carbon energy network.