NEW defibrillators across town are already helping to save lives.

Northwich Town Council has been rolling out defibrillators for public use across town in the past few years, and it installed its latest one in Leftwich in December.

It is available for anyone who needs it, 24 hours a day, by calling 999 to get the access code from North West Ambulance Service.

The council has installed defibrillators at a number of sites across town, working with Rotary in Northwich, and Cllr Andrew Cooper says these are already making a vital difference.

He told the Guardian: "Twelve young people a week lose their lives because of cardiac arrest.

"Using a defibrillator immediately in cardiac arrest increases a person's chance of survival from six per cent to 74 per cent.

"The defibrillators are already being used from time to time – the town centre ones have been used a few times.

"It's great that these are available for people to use at their time of need."

Defibrillators have been installed in locations across the town centre – including near Natwest and in Meadow Street – as well as in other places such as Victoria Road Primary School, Iron Bridge in Castle and Pete's Chippy in Winnington.

When BT announced it was decommissioning the phone box at the corner of Granville Road and Old Hall Road last year, the town council spotted the perfect opportunity to install another of the life-saving devices.

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The Labour councillor added: "The phone box was in reasonable condition and its location close to London Road means it is highly accessible for the wider Leftwich community.

"We had vinyls printed by Thinkprint in Winnington to put onto the side of the phone box, telling people to just dial 999 to get the code."

Northwich Town Council funded 50 per cent of the costs, while the other half was paid for out of Cllr Cooper's member budget from Cheshire West and Chester Council, which he can use to support projects in his ward of Leftwich.