Donor pays towards council shortfall to protect Pagham

The generous individual, whose identity has been kept secret, handed over 478 to the parish council's flood defence fund.

The money is to make up for a shortfall in the fund after two councillors exercised their right to take an annual allowance.

The anonymous councillor's largesse was praised at the latest parish council meeting by its chairman, Cllr Ray Radmall.

He said the donation should be added to the councillor's decision to forego their allowance to reach a true figure of 956 for the community spirit he or she had displayed.

"To have made a donation after not taking their allowance is an incredibly noble minded thing to have done," he stated.

"I was speechless when I found out what had happened. I tried to dissuade the person from doing it, when I was told who it was, but I was unsuccessful."

The generous gesture means that the parish council's flood defence fund is nearly back towards its expected level of 12,836.

It was set up by councillors in this year's budget as a response to the serious flooding concerns along the Pagham Beach estate frontage.

All the councillors initially added their 478 allowances '“ totalling 6,336 '“ to a 6,500 reserve.

But the decision by two councillors to exercise their right to their allowances depleted the fund by almost a thousand pounds.

The donation has filled some of the funding gap which has arisen. It is hoped by councillors that an underspending in one of their budgets will enable the fund to be fully restored in the coming months.

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