A public consultation is underway to encourage communities to help save almost 100 pay phones in Lincolnshire by simply spending £1 on them.
BT has said the rise of mobile phones has led to a 90 per cent decline in public pay phone use over the last decade and wants to remove more than 1,000 of them across the country as a result. A public consultation is underway in which BT will decide whether to strip 96 pay phones from villages and towns across East Lindsey.
Out of 96 kiosks under threat in East Lindsey, many have not had a single call made in the past 12 months but some communities still want them retained in case of emergency.
And, surprisingly, some appear to be very well-used, with 202 calls made from the Tattershall Road telephone box in Woodhall Spa, making it the most-used phone box in East Lindsey.
In its objection to the plans, Woodhall Spa Parish Council said: “This is the last payphone in the village and it is clearly still being used.
“Woodhall Spa is currently producing a community emergency plan and it is felt that a public phone is needed as part of the plan in the event there is no mobile phone signal in an emergency.
“This is possible as the mobile phone signal in Woodhall Spa is not the strongest.”
And poor mobile phone coverage in areas of East Lindsey could also help see some phone boxes retained.
Poor signal has seen a payphone in Trusthorpe used 150 times in the past year, a phone box on Trunch Lane in Chapel St leonards used 155 times and one on Silver Street in Coningsby 52 times.
Other villages which have lodged objections to the removal of their pay phones include Utterby (used seven times in the last year), Willoughby (1), Farlesthorpe (0), Brinkhill (0), Aby (6) and Tetford (16).
Communities which have expressed an interest in buying a phone box for £1 include the villages of Gipsey Bridge near Boston, Marshchapel, Grainthorpe, Well, North Cotes, South Willingham, Gayton le Marsh, Kelstern and Raithby.
In areas where phone boxes have already been adopted, they have been turned into mini-libraries or village information points.
A spokesman from BT said: “BT is committed to providing a public payphone service, but with usage declining by over 90 per cent in the last decade, we’ve continued to review and remove payphones which are no longer needed.
“Any removal of payphones is carried out in strict adherence to the Ofcom guidelines and, where appropriate, with the consent of local authorities.
“As an alternative to removal, we will continue to actively promote the Adopt a Kiosk scheme to all councils whilst being committed to maintaining the payphones that remain.”
East Lindsey District Council has published a draft response to BT’s proposals following a public consultation.
The second phase of consultation is now underway and comments are invited until 12noon on December 27.It can be found at e-lindsey.gov.uk/phoneboxes or at the council’s community access points.
Article originally published by Grimsby Telegraph
