Airports are all about people, places and communities – and Stansted is no exception. I take pride in the place of the airport in the local community, of the positive part we play in the lifestyles of millions of people – hundreds of thousands of whom are from the Stansted area – and of the role we have in helping to underpin business success in the region.

Over the past year, we’ve worked hard at Stansted to build on our existing corporate responsibility work; work that can involve anything from helping an airline to reduce the impact of aircraft noise on the local community, to launching a skills and employment centre to help people get into work.

Of course, working responsibly should be important to any business large or small, but at a major international airport that commitment covers an exceptionally wide range of areas, all of which are covered in this report of our activities in 2007.

I believe that this report provides a useful snapshot of our activities in 2007, and reinforces my own approach that working responsibly is more than just meeting targets or writing a report – it’s how we approach all our work at the airport.

That’s why, for example, we have a dedicated environment team that works all year round on issues like biodiversity, energy and waste. And that’s why year-on-year we see a consistent improvement in nearly all these areas, because they’re important to the local community and our stakeholders – and they’re important to us as well.

The whole Stansted team is proud of the fact that that some of this work has resulted in our holding of an international standard for environmental management, known as ISO14001 Certification – especially as we’re the largest UK airport to do so.

But we know that as our airport grows, so does our challenge: to reduce the negative impacts an airport can bring and to ensure as many people as possible share in the economic and social benefits to be had from having an international gateway airport at the heart of our local community and the region.

As I write, growth at Stansted is very much on the agenda. A decision from the Government on plans to grow on our existing runway is expected soon, and our plans to build a second runway and associated facilities have been submitted to the local authority.

We know that in order to grow we must do so responsibly, that’s why we work hard to mitigate or offset any negative impacts wherever we can. In 2008 we will continue that work as we look to build an airport fit for the purposes of today and capable of meeting the ambitions we have for tomorrow; and that in terms of our responsibility for caring for the environment we operate at the very leading edge of what it is possible to do.

Thank you for taking the time to read this report and I look forward to any feedback you have on our work.

Stewart Wingate
Managing Director
BAA Stansted