MEMBERS of the Barton community will soon have access to potentially instant lifesaving equipment thanks to a grant from the British Heart Foundation.

A defibrillator is expected to be installed outside the Barton Neighbourhood Centre, in Underhill Circus, in the coming weeks after the community association made a successful bid for the cash.

Barton community secretary Sue Holden said people on the estate being able to access a the equipment during their moment of need was 'absolutely fantastic'.

She added: "It is a bit like insurance. It is good to have it, but you hope that you never have to use it.

"It's great that it is there and if anyone needs it now they can get get access. It will be totally accessible to all the public."

Mrs Holden said she had always thought about getting a defibrillator for the estate after her husband Barry, a popular member of the Barton community, passed away from heart failure in August 2014.

The couple ran newsagents Holdens News in Underhill Circus until they retired in 2006.

The community association managed to secure funding for the defibrillator, believed to cost in the region of £1,500, after a second application to the BHF.

It is planned to be installed within two weeks by Oxford City Council.

Mrs Holden said some members of staff and volunteers were planning to undergo training to operate the equipment but added any member of the public could use it when required.

She said: "Anyone, when they need it, can call the ambulance service and training is not essential because they give you a code to open it up and then they talk through how to use it."

Mrs Holden added the Barton Pavillion in the recreation ground used to have one before it was knocked down as part of the Barton Park development.

The new defibrillator will be available for all those in the Barton estate, alongside the recent one installed in Risinghurst, outside the post office in Collinwood Road.

Since the Oxford Mail backed a campaign by ambulance commander Dick Tracey, more than 400 public defibrillators have been installed in the county with the help of the paper's readers.

Mr Tracey has now said he needs shops, offices and businesses who have private defibrillators on site to tell him about them to complete his database.

Mr Tracey, who works for South Central Ambulance Service, originally launched his campaign to ensure no one in Oxfordshire was more than 10 minutes away from a public defibrillator in June 2014.