Community
Despite our overall size and international presence, we operate, in effect, as a series of independent local businesses, providing jobs in mainly rural areas and playing a part in community affairs.
Local managers are encouraged to build and maintain close links with neighbours and ensure the business remains both an accepted and acceptable part of the local community. Visits to Hanson sites, particularly from schools, are welcomed. Visiting groups include local residents, planning officers, environmentalists, professional associations and students. Our educational resource pack, Material World, provides a series of study topics linked to the National Curriculum and designed to introduce primary age children to the process of quarrying and brick making, the materials used, the environmental considerations, and the end products.
We also help charities and voluntary groups in the areas around our sites and offices by providing monetary or materials donations.
Community liaison is a key part of the operation of sites, and many of our operational sites have local liaison committees comprising councillors, residents and regulatory officers. They meet regularly to discuss issues of concern and to talk about site operations, providing a vital link between local management and the local community. They also provide a crucial interface between site management and other stakeholder groups, such as the Environment Agency and environmental NGOs. Within our aggregates division, the number of liaison groups has been increasing over the past few years and in 2005, there were 66 in operation.
