WHEN it comes to going the extra mile, Community and Business Partners take some beating.

Which explains why it is among the finalists for The Social Responsibility Commitment to Blackburn and Darwen Award.

Although the core business spans a range of services, including business mentoring, training workshops and masterclasses, there is a keen awareness of social responsibility.

CEO Amanda Meachin said: “We’ve generated more than £80,000 of charitable donations and this is something all our staff do, all year through.”

Next year CBP will celebrate its 30th birthday and Amanda said the business was very focussed on social responsibility long before it became commonplace.

CBP became a community interest company in 2008, the same year it moved into the Energy Zone, a ‘dormant’ Blackburn Council building.

Amanda said: “Since then we’ve brought in £5m worth of revenue through business support programmes, private sponsorship and our own sales and services such as renting space, both long and short term.

“The building might have ended up as a blot on the landscape but now it’s 100 per cent occupied.”

The business also runs a scrap store to generate income, upcycling donated materials that can then be sold on.

In addition CBP hands out Easter eggs to local families, distributes £8,000 worth of Christmas gifts, regularly supplies practical items such as bedding to hostels, runs a re-paint scheme offering cut-price paint to those in need and also a food share programme that makes use of supermarket food that would otherwise be wasted.