Roz Savage MP Backs Call for Defibrillators in All New Housing Developments After Visit to Lechlade
Roz Savage, MP for South Cotswolds, visited Lechlade last month to see two newly installed public access defibrillators, the first in the South West to be powered directly from lamp-posts.
The devices, installed through a collaboration between Lechlade Lions, South West Ambulance Service and Gloucestershire Street Lighting, mean Lechlade and Fairford are now among the best-served towns in the country for defibrillator coverage.
During the visit, Roz met with community leaders and volunteers, took part in CPR training, and discussed how the innovative lamp-post powered model could be rolled out more widely.
On 2nd September, Roz spoke in a debate in Parliament on defibrillator access, highlighting the work done in Lechlade and Fairford alongside calling for all new housing developments to have a defibrillator.
Inspired by her visit to Lechlade, Roz said in Parliament: “I recently visited a newly installed defibrillator in my constituency. With huge thanks to the Lechlade Lions, the South Western Ambulance Service and Gloucestershire street lighting, Lechlade and Fairford now have some of the best defibrillator coverage in the country. They have pioneered the use of lamp post power to run devices, the first scheme of its kind in the South-West, making installation simpler and cheaper.
“We should be broadening that approach across the whole country. Every community, rural or urban, deserves the same safety net. I advocate for defibrillators as a standard requirement in the planning process for all new housing estates and industrial estates. If developers include them from the outset, the cost is very reasonable—far lower than the cost of trying to retrofit them later on.
“New estates should be designed so that no home is more than 400 metres from a defibrillator, because when cardiac arrest happens, every moment counts.
“Each year, thousands of lives are lost because help simply does not arrive quickly enough. By ensuring that defibrillators are widespread, visible and easy to access, we can change that. Let us make defibrillators as commonplace as fire extinguishers and as trusted as seat belts. Let us make sure that help is never more than a few steps away.”
Geoff Bull from Lechlade and District Lions commented:
‘As three local partners - Community First Responders, Lechlade and District Lions, and South Western Ambulance Service – we worked with Gloucestershire County Council’s Street Lighting Team to use the power from street lights to help complete a network of 11 new defibrillators across Lechlade, Fairford and Kempsford. It’s great that we have achieved this for our communities and that Roz has shared our project in Parliament, so that other places can learn from our experience and safeguard their communities similarly.’
Roz has said she will now explore ways to put forward an amendment to the forthcoming Planning & Infrastructure Bill to ensure defibrillators become a standard requirement in all major new developments.
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