OXFORDSHIRE’S “Mr Defibrillator” has said plans to have life-saving equipment for every 100 homes at the new Bicester eco-town are “excellent”.

Developer A2 Dominion told the Oxford Mail yesterday it hopes to have life-saving units at 35 bus stops between 3,500 homes in North West Bicester.

As a result nobody in those houses will be more than 400m from a public access defibrillator, available 24 hours a day.

The developer said the level of health safety it will provide will be unparalleled in Europe.

South Central Ambulance Service divisional responder commander Dick Tracey, who has been leading an Oxford Mail-backed campaign to get hundreds more public-access defibrillators across the county, said: “This is exactly what I have been trying to achieve across Oxfordshire.

“The measuring stick I have been using is for no one to be more than 10 minutes away from the equipment, but the closer you are the better your chance of survival and the better your quality of life post-survival.”

He said he would welcome more housing developers taking the initiative to install the units, which cost about £1,400 each, in their estates.

He said: “We are very much aware of the big building programmes going on across the country and it just seems sensible to incorporate them in the planning stage.”

A2 Dominion bought the first two defibrillators this month and will serve the first 90 homes in the estate, due to be completed in the autumn.

Eventually, more than 7,000 residents in A2 Dominion’s 3,500 homes could potentially have their life saved by one of the units. The company will also tell SCAS the location of each unit, so if operators get a 999 call from anyone on the estate they will be able to direct them to the nearest one.

Strategic partnership manager Louise Caves said: “We are very keen to get more of them.

“Time is the most critical factor in determining if someone can survive a cardiac arrest, and this equipment provides extra protection.”

A defibrillator shocks the heart back into beating during a cardiac arrest.

Every minute a person in cardiac arrest goes without treatment their chance of survival decreases roughly 14 per cent so the machines can save lives.

The Bicester defibrillators will be stored in cabinets which can be unlocked by calling 999 to get the passcode. A2Dominion intends to raise awareness of the devices and how to access them with inductions with new residents and the estate’s school.