WORTING Community Trust is to donate £5,000 to help flooded residents in Buckskin.

Trustees from the Worting Community Trust decided at a meeting on February 21 to release the funds from the trust’s reserves to help residents who have lost belongings and had their homes damaged by floodwater.

Councillor Robert Taylor, a borough councillor for Buckskin and a trustee at Worting Community Trust, is set to discuss how the donation can be spent at a meeting with Laura Taylor, corporate director of Basing-stoke and Deane Borough Council, this week.

They will plan how flooded residents can access the funds and discuss criteria that can be used to determine those most in need of money.

Cllr Taylor told The Gazette: “Worting Community Trust only funds community projects and it doesn’t help individuals, but in this crisis, we have changed our rules so we can make some direct impact on the people in an immediate way.

“The money is to help residents replace carpets, pay for storage and replace furniture – in particular, the people who are not insured. They are the most vulnerable.”

He added: “I had an example the other day of a woman who has been relocated by Sovereign outside of the school catchment area, and she has problems getting there so it is little things like taxi fares which she hasn’t got money for.

“We can talk about the long term but it is about what people need now, that’s the most important thing. I am hoping the £5,000 will be a first payment, but we would need to make a decision as a trust in relation to further funding. We need to work out criteria to make sure every penny of that £5,000 goes to the people who need it.”