South Wootton Parish Council 'grateful' for goodwill donation from Anglian Water

A parish council has thanked Anglian Water after it donated £2,000 as a goodwill gesture.

It comes after residents in areas of Lynn were left without water over a weekend in July when there were soaring temperatures.

An equal donation was made to four community groups in Lynn - South Wootton Village Hall, North Wootton Village Hall, Reffley Community Hall and Castle Rising Parish Council.

The money given by the water company came following a petition that Cllr Rob Colwell had made in hopes of getting all 6,000 people affected by the burst water pipe £150 in compensation.

The chairman of South Wootton Parish Council said it is grateful to Anglian Water for the gesture which will be used on a community project.

David Price said: "Whilst a final decision has not yet been made, it is likely that the payment will be used in helping to fit out the meeting room extension which is currently under construction.

"When completed, the enlarged meeting room with its fully fitted kitchen, toilet and air conditioning/heating, can be used by community groups, as well as providing extra accommodation for meetings of the parish council and its committees, at which residents are always made welcome."

The other community groups have yet to comment on what their donations will be used for.

Anglian Water initially promised customers that were left without water for more than 24 hours £150, but many residents have said they have received £30, which was the amount promised for people left without water for less than 12 hours.

In a response to Mr Colwell, Anglian Water chief executive Peter Simpson said: "In recognition of the disruption and community impact we are going to provide a gesture of goodwill payment to four key local community groups; North Wootton Village Hall, South Wootton Village Hall, Reffley Community Hall and Castle Rising Parish Council.

"I am in touch with those organisations to make arrangements for those payments so that they can best decide how to use the funds for local community benefit.

"As I say, this was a most regrettable incident, and we are truly sorry for the inconvenience and disruption the community faced whilst we carried out the repair, however, we do believe the compensation payments are proportionate, going beyond what our regulator requires us to do and recognising the impact of those affected."