CIVIC chiefs are celebrating the gift of a defibrillator which could help save the lives of people who fall ill in Romsey town centre.

Shoppers who suffer heart attacks in the town centre will now be able to benefit from life-saving technology just yards from them in the Market Square.

Judith Giles, town clerk, applied for the free equipment – which costs as much as £1,200 – through the British Heart Foundation.

Now she hopes to get the kit set up on the walls of the Town Hall overlooking the statue of Palmerston in the heart of the town, pending a yes from town planners.

She said: “We know that Romsey has a lot of older and more vulnerable people in the town on a regular basis. It was felt that a defibrillator outside the Town Hall was needed. The other nearest one is outside the dentists on The Hundred.

“We haven’t got one on this side of town and this was the perfect location. It’s the reassurance that it’s there.

“I think it will be good. It ’s a step in the right direction and will help the emergency services do their job.”

Staff in the town centre, town marshals and councillors will get training to use the device and it is hoped that there will always be someone in the town to help those in peril.

Judy O’Sullivan of the British Heart Foundation said: “More than 30,000 people suffer a cardiac arrest outside hospital every year. Less than one in ten survive.

“More people could be saved if more defibrillators were in public places and more people felt confident to use them and perform CPR.

“We are delighted that Romsey Town Council have joined the BHF’s Nation of Lifesavers campaign by making another defibrillator available at Romsey Town Hall and teaching CPR locally.

“It could be the difference between life and death.”