Residents slow to pick up on phone box sale

IT'S a bargain at just £1 – yet few communities are taking up an offer to buy traditional red telephone boxes in the East Riding.

Just three parish councils in the county have taken advantage of a scheme run by BT to ensure the iconic kiosks remain a feature of their villages, with or without a working pay-phone inside them.

The telecoms firm has selected 83 boxes in the East Riding it deems as underused for possible adoption by communities.

Nationally, parish councils have been offered the chance to adopt telephone boxes in their areas – with the actual pay-phone removed – for just £1, as a way of preserving the look of the streetscene.

Alternatively, they can keep the little-used phone boxes as working kiosks by subsidising the units for £300 a year.

But since the launch of the scheme in 2008, just 14 East Riding parish councils have agreed to the idea of the scheme, and only three have actually gone ahead with adoption.

Although BT insists there are no current plans to remove kiosks in the region, there are fears un-adopted kiosks are vulnerable.

Margaret Cockbill, chairman of the East Riding Campaign for Rural England, said: "It is a concern, as the red phone box is an icon and a part of the traditional village scene.

"People will want to retain that individual characteristic that's typical of rural areas.

"And also, to some extent, it is a worry that older people in these rural communities do not have mobile phones and could be stuck in an emergency.

"But I suppose many parish councils may feel unable to pay for the subsidy".

Villagers in Thwing, north of Driffield, adopted their phone box on Main Street.

Since the move, the telephone in the kiosk has been removed – replaced by a note from BT informing would-be callers of the nearest still-functional public phone.

Also in the process of being adopted are kiosks on Main Road, Burton Agnes, near Driffield, and Marton Lane, New Ellerby, near Skirlaugh.

However, Amy Walker, spokesperson for BT, said underused phone boxes that are not adopted or subsidised could be removed in the future.

She said: "BT has no immediate plans to remove any kiosks in the region.

"However, we can't guarantee these boxes will be there forever. Usage is declining in rural areas more and more each year.

"Adopting or subsidising is really the only way to make sure they are there for eternity."