| 2009 | 2008 | |
| Recorded complaints (aggregates) | 385 | 524 |
| Community liaison groups (aggregates) | 283 | 240 |
| Liaison group meetings (cement) | 38 | 41 |
| Visitors to aggregates and cement sites | 13,390 | 21,075 |
In 2009, a total of over 13,000 people visited our members’ sites and and we have recorded 283 aggregates sites which have formal liaison activities with local communities and 38 liaison group meetings in the cement industry. Although liaison groups provdie valuable communication channels withl communities, they are not appropriate for every site and MPA members have a range of methdos of communicating locally.
MPA’s Virtual Quarry website www.virtualquarry.co.uk continues to provide children (and their schools) with a range of resources and activities geared to the National Curriculum. MPA’s Stay Safe campaign, again achieved media coverage across the UK and featured David James and other Premiership footballers as a means of highlighting the risks of trespassing in quarries.
MPA believes that the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund (ALSF) has greater potential than has so far been realised to benefit communities in the areas affected by quarrying areas for whom it was intended. Our research shows that, since its introduction in 2002, less than ten per cent of ALSF allocations in England went directly to local communities. We believe the figure should be nearer 50 per cent.