A couple of the projects we have been working on this year are to add more Parish Council noticeboards around the village, repair the ones we have, plus add life-saving defibrillators as we currently have none publically available in the village.
The first visible result is our new HGPC noticeboard that was installed today on Harrier Way serving Phases 2 and 3 of the village.
Challenge finding locations
As you may know, the parish council currently has no facilities or land at Hunts Grove. Defibrillators need a power supply, and locations for both defibrillators and noticeboards need to be secure, yet accessible for the people they serve. In the current situation of open spaces responsibility being with Crest Nicholson or the management company, it was not possible for the Parish to negotiate any locations. This may change in the future if the Parish is successful in taking over control locally or once transfers have been completed to the management company.
The school came to our rescue!
Huge thanks to Head of School at Hunts Grove Primary Academy, Mr. Philcox, and his team who worked with us to plan and give permission for both a noticeboard and a defibrillator on school grounds. As you can imagine, the school at the heart of the village is the perfect location for both and provides nearby access for residents of Phases 2 and 3.
Local advice
We are fortunate to have a first aid specialist resident at Hunts Grove. Huge thanks to Jim Jones at Passion First Aid Ltd. who raised awareness with councillors of the importance of fast access to public defibrillators to increase the chances of survival in cases of cardiac arrest.
Procurement process
The council hopes to start a procurement process this autumn for two defibrillators based on current plans. At the September 5th council meeting we’ll be discussing a potential location in Phase 1 of the village and the other location is already agreed upon with the school, accessible from Harrier Way.
Currently, we are applying for grant funding to cover as much of the costs as possible, for example, our application to the Community Liaison Group (CLG) annual fund provided by the Javelin Park Energy From Waste plant.
Depending upon the results of the grant applications, the council will then decide on a procurement process based on the grant award and/or the option to fund from council reserve funds as an option.
It is worthwhile also to note that HGPC supports local suppliers for goods and services wherever possible. This means within our procurement process we will add scoring weight for local suppliers.
We’ll update you as soon as we know more!
More on defibrillators:
A defibrillator is a device that gives a high energy electric shock to the heart of someone who is in cardiac arrest. This high energy shock is called defibrillation, and it’s an essential part in trying to save the life of someone who’s in cardiac arrest. A defibrillator may also be called a defib, an AED (Automated External Defibrillator) or a PAD (Public Access Defibrillator).