Our Local Environment

Whilst the future growth of the airport is vital to the economic wellbeing of the whole region, it’s equally important to balance this growth by minimising its impact on our beautiful rural landscape and environment.

Landscape Strategy
EMA's Landscape Strategy covers a range of initiatives aimed at integrating the airport site into the rural landscape and offering open access for the benefit of the local community.

Since 1999 almost 50,000 new trees have been planted around the perimeter. These complement the existing flora and fauna and enhance our environment. Ecological surveys carried out found areas of woodland spinneys, open scrub, hedgerows, grassland and water course. They also identified animals on site such as smooth newts, brown hares, common blue butterflies, bee orchids and birds ranging from skylarks to kestrels.

Airport Trail
One of the key initiatives of our landscape strategy is the Airport Trail. The Airport Trail consists of a six mile walk circling the airport site, through woodland, grassland and wildflower meadows. Work is continuing, but recent developments have included the introduction of interpretation boards detailing wildlife on the trail, picnic benches, tree planting and the development of artwork (in association with local primary schools and artists) as well as the installation of bat boxes and hedgehog hotels.

If you’re interested in using the Airport Trail you can download a map or request a hard copy by contacting the Community Relations team:

Tel: 01332 818414
Email: community@eastmidlandsairport.com

Flying Visits
The Airport is working closely with the Wildlife Trusts of Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to run a Flying Visits event for schools near to the airport.

The key aims of the project are:

• To reach out to local communities to make the most of their school grounds
• To identify the wildlife present, learn about and enjoy it
• To use school grounds to encourage wildlife
• To provide basic skills to keep their grounds green

Up In the Air - Environmental Education Project
East Midlands Airport and South Derbyshire Environmental Education Partnership have produced an award-winning education resource pack targeted at Key Stage Two that links environmental education to airport activities.

The pack takes the form of a ‘loan box’ which includes all the equipment and activity cards needed for teachers to run a ‘self lead’ education day, as well as activities that can be undertaken before and after visiting the airport. The topics covered in the pack include Sound, Trees and Landscape, Flight, Weather and Creatures; featuring a number of fun and interactive activities to really help children get involved.

The visit to the airport will be based on the Airport Trail, near to the Aeropark. This offers wonderful views of the runway and access to a wide range of habitats.

To hire the education pack please contact:

Tel: 01332 852 801
Email: community@eastmidlandsairport.com

A £30 deposit is required, refundable on return of all equipment in good condition. We recommend that you collect the equipment and activity cards in advance of your visit, so that you can best plan which topics/activities you would like to do on the day.

Download our 'Up In the Air' leaflet