EIGHT defibrillators, no further than half a mile apart, have been installed across Southend as part of a £20,000 project to help save lives on the seafront.

Teams from the Leigh Rotary Club, Thorpe Bay Rotary Club and the Carli Lansley Foundation all banded together to help make the project happen.

The groups noticed the lack of defibrillators which are now available for seafront-goers to use once businesses lock up for the night.

Determined to stop visitors from losing their lives in the event of an emergency, both clubs, along with representatives from the foundation who raise money for ECG screening programmes worked to finally complete their mission.

The first four defibrillators, which will be based at The Foreshore Office, on the promenade at Shoebury Common (adjacent to the Uncle Tom’s Cabin car park), the Thorpe Bay Yacht Club, the entrance to Southend Pier and at Thames Estuary Yacht Club on Western Esplanade, are now currently being installed.

The remaining four defibrillators are expected to be installed in early 2021, with the total cost of the project set in excess of £20,000, including maintenance.

A project spokesman said: “Several businesses on the seafront have defibrillators on their premises but as such are not accessible for public use when they are closed. Our equipment will be positioned on the outside of the buildings so that the public can access them at any time day or night.

“We have researched the locations where our eight defibrillators will be installed from Chalkwell to Shoebury Common.

“These together with the two already in place at the Chalkwell Redcaps building and City Beach mean that Southend Seafront will have defibrillators positioned at no more than half a mile apart.

“We’d like to thank Southend Council for their wholehearted support, as well as the organisations who agreed for us to install this equipment on their buildings.”

Thorpe Bay Rotary Club is now set to create a crowd funding appeal to help raise funds towards the second phase of the project.

Scott Dolling, head of tourism at Southend Council, said: “We are delighted to have helped the partnership to achieve it’s goals.

“There is good evidence that defibrillators save lives and to have this provision along our foreshore is another good step.”