DEVON Air Ambulance will be able to land safely in the dark in an emergency in Bere Alston as the village now has a night landing site, which will be officially opened tomorrow (Friday).

The recreation field was chosen by technical experts from Devon Air Ambulance as being the most suitable site, clear of obstructions and central to the peninsula – which has long and tenuous road connections to Derriford Hospital.

Bere Ferrers Parish Council members were delighted to give permission and agreed to obtain planning permission.

They started a fund-raising drive to raise more than £8,000 for the installation of a 10-metre column, topped with floodlights and the groundwork connections to specialised equipment which allows the helicopter crews to control the lights.

The funds were raised in just ten weeks, as the local community organised a variety of events together with generous individual donations, aided by two grants from Devon County Council and West Devon Borough Council’s TAP fund.

Parish council chairman Cllr Richard Leithall said: ‘I must thank the parishioners for a brilliant effort which could benefit every person in the parish — a brilliant operation. We have already had five visits in the last year during the daytime from these life-saving helicopters that carry critical care staff and a wide range of life-saving equipment.’

MP for West Devon and Torridge Geoffrey Cox has been invited to officially launch the site, on behalf of the parish council.

The council is inviting everyone who has given to the project to come along and see the ‘switch on’ at 2pm.