70 traditional red phone boxes to be axed across Shropshire

BT today revealed plans to axe more than 70 phone boxes across Shropshire.

The company says the advent of mobile phones means that many of the kiosks have had fewer that 10 calls made from them in the last 12 months.

It says that the maintenance of the kiosks is a drain on resources and wants to remove 75 in the county and on its border next year.

The move will mean the end of a number of traditional red boxes as well as more modern silver kiosks.

And it has been opposed by Shropshire Council, which says it is concerned that the phone boxes are an essential service in areas where the mobile phone signal is patchy.

Parish Councils and individuals have until January 22 to object to the plans.

Members of Weston Rhyn Parish Council near Oswestry are among those likely to file a protest.

They will debate the plans to take away not one but two boxes in its area, in Station Road and at Lower Chirk Bank at its meeting on Monday.

There are 460 phone boxes in Shropshire with just 62 of the traditional red ones left in working order. A further 24 of the new empty red boxes have been adopted in the county by their communities.

Emma Tennant from BT said: "Fewer than 10 calls were made from 60 of these boxes in the 12 months prior to October 2014. On average around only 230 calls are made from phone boxes in Shropshire annually."

She said that calls from BT payphones had fallen by more than 80 per cent in the last five years with 70 per cent of phone boxes losing money.

One of those in danger of being removed is the red kiosk outside the telephone exchange in Knockin.

Resident, Charles Roberts, said that it was a sign of the times. He said: "It is terribly sad that these wonderful red phone boxes are going. They evoke memories of times past from pushing button A and button B to make a call to even the very distinctive smell of the kiosks," he said.

"I remember when I was in the RAF and very much in love with my girlfriend, spending hours in the kiosk on the base talking to her on the phone."

"I expect many young people have never even been in a phone box and these days of the mobile phone, I suppose it is inevitable that phone boxes will disappear."

Shropshire Council says it objects to the removal of phone boxes unless local feedback suggests otherwise.

Community enablement officer for Shropshire Council, Corrie Davies, said the council was seeking local comment before deciding whether to exercise its powers of 'local veto'.

She said: "The starting point of Shropshire Council, as a predominantly rural county with a dispersed population is to object to the removal of telephony at kiosks unless local feedback suggests otherwise, due to concerns over emergency access, physical access and concern over consistency and quality of mobile phone coverage."

BT says it would be in favour of all phone companies contributing to a fund to ensure the payphone network was maintained for the people who depended on them.

Around 40 of the iconic red phone boxes were protected last year by English Heritage as listed buildings.

But the red kiosk is fast disappearing, with more than 33,000 disappearing nationally in towns and villages over the last decade because mass use of mobile phones has made them obsolete. Today's announcement comes following a decision last year to axe 1,000 boxes nationally.

Protected boxes in our region include one in Castle Square in Ludlow and another in Belmont Road, Ironbridge.

Protected red phone boxes can also be found in Cleobury Mortimer, Craven Arms, Bishop's Castle, Clun, Bucknell and Ellesmere.

Those set to disappear will either be scrapped or sold on as novelty gifts. A number of private companies take on the red boxes, restore them and sell them to people who want an unusual garden decoration.