Community investment

Target 2006/07: To support the London Stansted Partnership and contribute 50% towards the first year costs of a travelcard for successful candidates coming through the partnership.
Performance against target: Target achieved

The issue

We recognise that our international business is situated within a vibrant local community. We take seriously the responsibility we have to work with community organisations and with all those who live and work nearby, to demonstrate that we are a responsible employer and neighbour.

Stansted Airport is an integral part of the local community, with many of our employees living in the surrounding area (nearly 70% of BAA staff live within a 20 mile radius of the airport).

We are continually looking to make the most of the links that exist between the airport and education and community opportunities locally.

Our approach

Our principal objective for 2006/07 was to target support in specific areas that could make a positive difference to local projects.

In this way we hope to demonstrate the advantage there is to be gained by having effective working links between the airport as a successful international business and those living and working in the community nearby.

Most of our community activity and support is channelled through grants to help local schools; funding of youth development programmes; supporting staff with fundraising and voluntary activities; supporting educational initiatives and local charitable events.

Community Trust Funding and Staff Charities

There are four funding streams:

• BAA Communities Trust: managed by a committee of trustees to support community projects close to BAA’s seven UK airports focussing on education, environment and employment.
• Stansted Community Trust: managed by independent trustees either nominated by local authorities or from neighbouring districts. The Trust encourages applications for projects that enhance the social, economic and environmental wellbeing of the community.
• Stansted Public Affairs Fund: which sponsors local programmes around the themes of education, the environment and employee engagement.
  
  During 2006/07 the above funds collectively contributed over £200,000 to 130 organisations. (See ‘Our Performance’ for examples of initiatives supported).

• Stansted Airport Charity: managed by a team of BAA staff volunteers. This is funded by foreign currency collections in the terminal building and during 2006/07 the fund contributed over £52,300 to over 100 causes.

Some of the charities and organisations that benefited from funding included:

• £1,500 to the Alzheimers Society Dunmow;
• £1,200 to the Child Health Trust Fund (Leukaemia), Harlow; £1,000 to the Kestral Sports Club for the disabled, Hertford;
• £2,300 to Essex Air Ambulance and £1,000 for a sensory bubble tube for an airport police officer’s son suffering from Tuberous Sclerosis.

The charity also ran its ninth Senior Citizen outing to which £14,000 went towards taking over 500 pensioners from local senior citizen groups on a day out to the seaside. This was a hugely popular event but the organising committee has decided to invest the funds for this into other areas in future.

Staff working at the airport can also apply to the charity for assistance with sponsorships they are involved with and last year contributions were made for example to the Isabel Hospice, Addenbrookes Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and the Harlow Steel Band.

Our performance

Employee Volunteering
BAA actively encourages employees to volunteer and fundraise in the local community and the BAA I-Volunteer awards are held annually to celebrate the contribution made by BAA staff.

All BAA staff are permitted to take 48 working hours (six days equivalent) as paid leave to undertake community and voluntary duties, subject to operational requirements.

Stansted Airport staff were among the top prize winners at the awards ceremony in January 2007 with one member of staff awarded ‘Best Volunteer’ for work with the Kingfisher Foundation, which works to improve the education of children in West Africa; and three security officers won ‘Best Fundraising Team’ for their commitment to Essex Air Ambulance for which they had raised over £7,000. The winner of each of these prize categories was given £5,000 funding from the BAA Communities Trust for the causes they support.

Skills Training
We successfully achieved our target to support the London Stansted Partnership - Airport Skills Training Programme and contributed £12,600 to fund 50% of the costs of providing travelcards for one year for those who successfully gained employment.

See the Local Economy section for further information on this popular scheme.

Community
Listed below are some examples of initiatives that Stansted Airport’s Community Strategy supported during 2006/07:

Through direct financial support:

• £25,000 (part of £50,000 over two years) to Harlow Foyer to fund life and employment skills training to over 70 local people aged 16-24, currently homeless or in need of housing support; and
• £10,000 to Hatfield Heath pre-school to construct a dedicated building in the grounds of the primary school. The preschool caters for over 50 children and was previously run from the local village hall.

Some of the general community liaison we undertook included:

• Work, under the terms of our Section 106 planning commitments, to bring forward plans for the construction of a Visitors Centre at Stansted Airport; and
• Our airport community executive attended Business Opportunities Skills Seminars (BOSS), which are held monthly, and attended by children aged 14 to 16.

These interactive workshops focus on giving children experience of what is involved in entering the workplace, such as completing job applications and interview techniques.

Youth Projects
The initiatives we supported during the year included:

• The Prince’s Trust community strategy where we worked jointly with members of the Trust to develop an Environmental Safari Trail at the airport. This was created to give local school children the opportunity to explore first hand the flourishing plant and wildlife that can be found at the airport (see the Biodiversity section);
• Hertfordshire Young People of the Year Awards (YOPEY). Our support of £15,000 helped to reward and acknowledge the youth achievements of young people and recognised unsung heroes who at a young age put the needs of others before their own;
• Sponsorship of local children from Braintree and Bishop’s Stortford participating in independent voluntary service youth projects in Kenya and South Africa;
• £39,000 contributed to Global Exchange – an international volunteering exchange programme; and
• BAA also launched ‘Take Off & Learn’, an interactive tool available online, www.baa.com/learn, to assist teachers responsible for Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 4. The site also targets those people seeking to gain vocational skills in order to work in an airport environment.

Our plans

During 2007 we will work to develop Stansted’s first Visitors Centre and through our community strategy will continue to engage with local people, organisations and communities.