'My 12-year-old son died from a hidden heart problem'

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

The father of a 12-year-old boy who died from a hidden heart condition has been left 'dismayed' after a council turned down plans to install defibrillators, describing the units housing them as 'street clutter'.

Last month, Bury Council rejected plans put forward by JCDecaux to put communication hubs at Haymarket Street and outside the Rock and Millgate shopping centres.

The units would offer free calls to landlines, free Wi-Fi, a 32-inch touch screen with access to local web-pages, a publicly accessible defibrillator and charging ports along with advertising screens.

In its decision to turn down the plans the council said that although the defibrillators in the public realm 'would represent a public benefit', their positioning within a much larger unit would mean that benefit 'would not outweigh the harm identified to the character and appearance of the conservation area'.