Stansted Airport (narrowly avoiding Obama)

Today was a very busy day.

I took another days "annual leave" from work to spend doing leader of council things; something which I have blogged about before.

The day was a good mixture of catch up meetings, with senior officers from the council and paperwork/emails. I also had a very good visit to Stansted airport (and no not to see Obama take off as he had left a couple of hours before!)

The visit to Stansted was at the invitation of Ashley Rily, who is Head of Communications for BAA Stansted. Ashley has been getting very involved in Harlow recently representing the airport at all sorts of events. He came to my business breakfast last year, and has just agreed to represent the Airport on the Harlow 2020 partnership (the local strategic partnership).

At the Airport my Head of Regeneration and I met with Ashley and Stuart Wingate the MD of the Airport. We talked about the current issues at the airport, including the way they had successfully managed the arrival and departure of most of the high profile G20 participants. We also talked about regeneration opportunities for Harlow and how things like the rail line which serves both the Airport and Harlow could be improved for both of us. Importantly we also talked about how more people from Harlow could find employment at the airport, and not just in low paid low skilled jobs.

I will be hosting a return visit to Harlow at some time in the near future for both Ashley and Stuart, where I will be able to show off all the good things that the town has to offer. I am really looking forward to working with them in future.