Phone box defibrillator plans submitted

Plans to install a life-saving defibrillator in a former phone box in Aston Cantlow have been submitted to Stratford District Council.

The plan is the first to come before the council since BT completed its consultation into the removal of phone boxes across the district in January.

BT had proposed removing 74 phone boxes, 62 per cent of the district’s total, though in the end following objections, agreed to remove 51.

While the company is set to remove these boxes in the coming months, a number were donated to communities who wished to adopt them if they had a suitable alternative use in mind.

Aston Cantlow Parish Council is the first to apply for permission to change the use of their phone box, though other councils and community groups will no doubt be soon to follow.

Cllr Lesley Harvey, chairman of Aston Cantlow Parish Council, said: “We became aware that other areas around the country were doing this and we thought what better place to have a defibrillator then in a recommissioned phone box. They have a light, an electricity supply and are usually centrally located.

“It would be great if this idea grows as part of a nationwide initiative so everyone would know to look for a recommissioned phone box if they needed to access a defibrillator, as opposed to finding themselves in an unfamiliar place not knowing where to find one. You can probably get to that phone box within six minutes from anywhere in the village.”

Defibrillators have already been installed in other phone boxes across the area, including in Wixford.

Elsewhere across the country former phone boxes have been converted in community art galleries and even coffee shops.