PROPOSALS to place a defibrillator in Lymington High Street have been submitted by the town council.

At present there is no publicly accessible defibrillator in the area.

The plans, which will be assessed by New Forest District Council, detail putting the new equipment in a central area of the High Street on the side of the New Look unit.

Lymington and Pennington Town Council has already received permission to install the unit on the building from both the freehold owners and New Look's property management department.

After incidents in the past of damage to a unit at Woodside Gardens, the council says the location has been chosen as it is covered by two CCTV cameras on the High Street.

A heritage, design and access statement says: "The proposal would preserve the character of the conservation area and although bright in colour, is recognisable to the public for its intended use.

"Due to the public benefit it would bring, it is felt it would outweigh the any major harm it may bring to the street scene."

The defibrillator will be placed inside a locked cabinet, which requires a key code access to be given from the emergency services to a bystander at the time of a cardiac arrest in order to gain entry to it.

There are two other defibrillators located within buildings which are not open 24 hours, in Tesco Metro and Lymington Community Centre.