About
us

An introduction to our values and to our team

Our mission and values

Luton Rising is a local economic development company, which is by design focused on social purpose, and whose assets include London Luton Airport, the Luton DART, training and business centre Morton House, and Green Horizons Science & Innovation Park. As a direct result of Luton Council being its sole shareholder, it supports vital local frontline services while delivering considerable social impact through the strategic application of its charitable donations to charities and community organisations in and around Luton.

We are supporting a movement to create a town built on fairness, where people can thrive and no-one has to live in poverty.

This is reflected in our values. It is also reflected in very tangible contributions.

The contribution we are able to make to frontline services amounts to 15% of the Council’s income. On top of that, we give significant support to community groups and services in Luton, amounting to around £7 million this year. These include organisations which help homeless people, people needing mental health support and people who are hungry. We highlight some of these people in the Our Community section.

Our social impact comes not just from these substantial financial contributions to Luton’s public services and community organisations (£480 million in total since 1998). It is also reflected in how we grow our business, such as developing a new, green innovation hub, and our inclusive employment initiatives.

As the most significant business in the region, the airport supports 27,000 jobs and £1.8 billion in economic activity.

Our other assets, such as the Luton DART, have given opportunities to hundreds of people to develop skills and begin their careers, and our business parks will take this further. This is covered in detail in the Our Airport section.

As owners of an airport, we are aware of our environmental impact: particularly carbon emissions, noise, traffic and air pollution. Our sustainability strategy is, we believe, the most far-reaching commitment to minimising these environmental impacts ever put forward by a UK airport. And we aim to go further, pro-actively supporting the Council’s target for Luton to be carbon neutral by 2040. You can read much more about this in the Our Planet section.

We are, in essence, a social enterprise, at the heart of a movement for positive change in our town and in our region. We hope you will join us on that journey.

Luton Rising is the trading name of London Luton Airport Ltd, a company that owns London Luton Airport. Our shareholder is Luton Council, which means that financial benefits arising from airport ownership can flow directly into local and nearby communities impacted by its operations.

Our Board of Directors is appointed by Luton Council, as shareholder, predominantly from amongst its elected Members.