Businesses and community groups in the Hastings area are to benefit from a £1 million goodwill fund following recent weather-related flooding and loss of water supply incidents.
Southern Water has put up the cash in recognition of the disruption and distress caused by the early May loss of water supply, and the ongoing efforts to prevent a further weather-related flooding incident in Hastings town centre following two events in 2023.
Tim McMahon, Southern Water’s Director of Water – who led the company’s response to the burst major water main earlier this month – said:
“We recognise that the services we provide have not met all of the expectations of our customers in St Leonards and Hastings in recent months – and we are very sorry.
“This community has faced both weather-related floods and a major loss of water supply, and we have seen the toll this has taken on local businesses and households. We accept that we need to put things right so far as the community and businesses in Hastings and St Leonards are concerned, and therefore want to give something back as a meaningful goodwill gesture
“We care about Hastings and its community, with many of our colleagues working and living in the area, so we hope this gesture will help make a positive difference following such challenging times.”
The £1m goodwill fund includes:
– £120,000 for local festivals and events
– £500,000 for community projects, allocated with the support of local partners
– £380,000 to support businesses.
Southern Water has also published a review of the early May water supply outage, setting out what happened, what caused the burst, and reflecting on our response.
All businesses who are eligible will be contacted directly, and community recipients will be engaged with via Southern Water partners in the coming weeks.
