HOPES of new flood defences for a village near York have received a big boost from a local business.

Now villagers at Elvington are hoping City of York Council will make its own contribution towards the costs.

Residents are trying to raise £160,000 to fund the third and final phase of a project to protect the village from further devastating flooding.

They have asked national agencies, utility companies and local businesses for their support - and William Birch and Sons Ltd have led the way by donating £5,000.

Managing director Chris Birch said the company was the principal owner of Elvington Airfield Business Park, where there were 18 flourishing businesses and more than 300 workers, of whom quite a few lived and shopped in the village.

He said: "As a construction company, we understand the challenge of what the village is trying to achieve.

"As we regularly give to local charities, we would like to help Elvington villagers overcome their increasingly frequent and unpleasant flooding problems."

Parish council chairman Ian Bailey strongly welcomed Birch's support, which he said "exemplifies the very best in our local business community". He called on other companies and organisations to follow their lead.

He also revealed that City of York Council had now been asked to provide funding to meet 20 per cent of the total cost of the scheme.

He said that although it was too soon as yet to expect a reply, he expected a positive response, as the authority would avoid costs incurred in providing help when the village becomes flooded.

The project is intended to prevent floodwaters from the River Derwent backing up a beck and into the village, flooding the main street in two places and blocking access to the centre of the village.

The villagers are trying to fund the installation of a pumping station to pump water from the beck into the river.

The Environment Agency has already agreed to provide £220,000 from a levy on local authorities to fund the first two phases of the scheme - an embankment and a sluice gate.

Residents had originally hoped the project would start this summer, providing some protection in time for the next high-risk flooding period next winter, but Mr Bailey said work was unlikely to start until next spring, because of the number of regulatory approvals that were needed.

Updated: 08:37 Tuesday, June 14, 2005