More north-east councillors will join the debate on controversial plans to ban life-saving devices from historic buildings next week.
Aberdeenshire Council is asking its Garioch area committee to back new guidelines for providing community-owned Public Access Defibrillators (PADs) on its buildings on Tuesday.
The policy suggests the machines should not be set up on the council’s listed buildings or its properties within conservation areas, and only outside any structure.
It was branded “ridiculous” and “unnecessarily restrictive” by Kincardine and Mearns councillors last month.
The council will only consider “external installation” and the PADs will remain in the ownership of the given community group.
The local authority will pay for the electricity to supply the machines, though it will not train staff to use them.
In next week’s report the local authority’s director of business services, Ritchie Johnson, said: “Aberdeenshire Council will consider the external installation of PADs on any suitable buildings it owns, other than listed buildings and those in a conservation area.”
Chairman of the Garioch area committee, Fergus Hood, said: “I think the defibrillators are an excellent idea and it’s fantastic that communities have taken the initiative to buy their own defibrillators.
“I think it’s wrong for folk to get hung up on where the defibrillators will be sited – people shouldn’t be too precious on where they are located, either way they will still save lives.”
The council has outlined a “presumption to agree” any installation on council property,
The Stonehaven and District Community Council is fighting the new policy, having hoped to get its four PADs set up on a number of council properties including Mackie Academy and Stonehaven Leisure Centre.
The disagreements between the group and the council meant members began looking to instead consider other local buildings in the town.
One is now situated at the Co-op on David Street.
The group was not willing to agree to several conditions set out in a memorandum of understanding drafted by the council.
Chairman of the Stonehaven Community Council, Knud Christensen, said: “The all important aim is to ensure that we get these potentially life savings defibrillators installed at different locations in Stonehaven as soon as possible.
“It may some day actually contribute to save someone’s life. The suggested policy, in its present form, seems defensive and not very motivating for any community group who may want to consider installing defibrillators.”
Vice-chairman of the SDCC, Phil Mills-Bishop, said there was “no positive encouragement of use” within the policy.
