Social Value & Sustainability

As the UK’s market leader in providing roundabout advertising programmes for highway authorities, MFL is committed to delivering social value.

We believe that every person working within our organisation and our suppliers have a role to play. Whether that’s designing and implementing a new sustainable planting scheme, protecting biodiversity, or getting hands on in local communities through volunteering.

We have identified four pillars that focus and strengthen the way we deliver social.

Our Pillars

Covid 19 Recovery

Economic Prosperity, Tackling Economic Inequality & Creating Equal Opportunities

Fighting Climate Change

Cultivating Wellbeing

Covid 19 Recovery

We are committed to helping local businesses and the communities in which they are based manage and recover from the impact of Covid 19.

In action…

During the Covid 19 pandemic and the various lockdowns/tiers we worked with and supported existing advertisers regarding their own business requirements and financial constraints.

Supporting advertisers through this difficult time, understanding their needs, and getting their advertising in place for re-opening was regarded very highly by the local business community in helping with economic recovery.

During the pandemic and on-going our team is supported in its physical and mental health needs. We are actively working to the six standards in the “Mental Health at Work commitment”.

“Thank you for your email, please thank the whole team for this. It is amazing that you are supporting local businesses in this way. We really appreciate it and frankly it will be crucial to our survival. I hope too that in 3 months time we will all be in a better position”.

Philippa Townsend, Owner of Townsend Montessori Nurseries

“Can I say just how much I and the team really do value and appreciate this gesture of 3 months free advertising. It will certainly make a big difference to our small business and bolster our own contingency plans to be ready to trade forwards as things improve over the next 90 days”.

Craig Weston, Owner of HD Design and Build

Economic Prosperity, Tackling Economic Inequality & Creating Equal Opportunities

We believe that supporting economic prosperity makes us an enabler of local businesses and helps the country’s businesses and economy to grow. Our work in providing fully authorised advertising platforms plays a part in driving economic growth and this is central to the way we deliver social value. We are also an equal opportunities supplier and committed to equality and accessibility with our own workforce and that of our partners.

In action…

We are committed to the Good Work Plan and the five foundational principles (satisfaction, fair pay, participation and progression, well-being, safety and security, voice, and autonomy).

We support our employees in educational attainment relevant to our business, including training schemes, accreditations, licenses, and recognised qualifications.

Our signage manufacturing team work hard annually to achieve the CHAS (Contractors Health and Safety Scheme) accreditation for our business. They are pictured here with their certification, which assures our clients that we have a high standard of health and safety management within our company.

Fighting Climate Change

We will continue to drive forward on our plan to protect and improve the environment for current and future generations. Our work will focus on developing a net zero business, enhancing the natural environment, and making improvements that reduce our environmental impact.

In action…

We are now a Carbon Neutral business.

Our signage products are 100% sourced from a UK based manufacturer, we reused over 2,000 signage panels last year and 100% of waste signage is recycled back into the supply chain.

Carbon Neutral Logo

Cultivating Wellbeing

We recognise that we have a responsibility to improve the wellbeing of our employees and the communities in which we work. We are focusing our efforts on encouraging healthier lifestyles and creating environments that improve quality of life.

In action…

We recently held a company volunteering day with Suffolk Coast and Heaths in an AONB. We were tasked with clearing part of the beautiful Butley Churchyard, cutting then raking vegetation (mainly bracken and ferns) and moving it to a corner of the site. All the work was completed with hand tools, (mainly scythes for cutting). The work was to support Butley Parish Council in creating more diverse vegetation that will host a wider range of wildlife. Churchyards nowadays often host wildlife that has diminished in the wider countryside.

The team from Marketing Force worked very hard with hand tools (even small-motor, petrol-powered equipment is a significant contributor to climate change) to cut back a large stand of bracken that was becoming dominant in the Churchyard of St John the Baptist, Butley.

Bracken provides a habitat for some wildlife, but here in the Churchyard it was becoming a dominant ‘monoculture’ and reducing the diversity of species in the area. Bracken can smother more sensitive habitats, such as the wildflower rich grassland which is present elsewhere in this Churchyard. The cuttings were raked up and removed so that they did not decompose, adding nutrients back into the soil and limiting the growth of a wide range of wildflowers and grasses. An area of tall bracken was left uncut to provide a home for wildlife that likes to live there. Bracken can provide great landscape interest, particularly in the autumn, but if it replaces other species that are also important for the landscape, such as wildflowers and grasses, its impact is seen as negative. Thanks to the hard work of the team a significant part of the Churchyard will see a greater variety of plants to benefit insects, birds, and reptiles.

The work will also make much more of the Churchyard accessible to residents and visitors, with resulting benefits to physical and mental well-being. A peaceful place can now be enjoyed by more people, thanks to their efforts. It was an absolute pleasure to work with the team from Marketing Force, I could not have worked with a nicer team.

Neil Lister, Countryside Projects Officer

Suffolk Coast and Heaths AONB

We provide new planting schemes to enhance the local community environment in which people live.

Thank you to the team at Marketing Force for arranging the planting upgrade on what was a rather unattractive block paved roundabout at the entrance to our village. The new tubs and planters have made a positive impact and generally will make people feel better about the environment they are living.

Councillor Andrea Baughan, Buckinghamshire Council

Suffolk County Council logo

“I contacted Marketing Force as a local Councillor to see if they could work with me improving the look of the local shopping parade. I found Jo at Marketing Force to be positive and willing to help achieve this.

The planters at Heath Road in Ipswich were badly in need of sprucing up and re-planting. MFL have given the planters new lease of life by re-painting and re-planting. This work has provided the local shop parade with a much-improved outlook. I am thankful to Marketing Force for undertaking this work as part of their social value delivery”

Cllr. Paul West, Suffolk County Councillor

Bixley Division, Ipswich

We provide new planting schemes to enhance the local community environment in which people live.

Our Commitment to the Future

  • We truly believe in a circular economy and the wheel of responsibility.
  • Our commitment is simple.
  • We will continue to work and live by the pillars outlined in this plan.
  • We will continue to improve areas where we can that will make a positive impact and thus increase social value.