Agenda item

Presentation by the Corporate Head Partnerships & Improvements.

Recommendation:

At this stage the Engagement PDG deplore any removal of the BT Phone boxes and the equipment contained therein.  An emergency call facility should be retained within each village or certainly within easy walking distance of a village.  If Parish Council’s wish to have the phone boxes removed or to adopt the box (the equipment removed and keep the shell) for their village they must contact the District Council stating the reasons why they wish the box to be removed and also show what discussions had been taken within the parish/village concerning the proposals. The Parish Councils concerned should be invited to the next meeting of the Engagement PDG.

The Corporate Head Partnerships and Improvements gave a short presentation on the latest round of consultation by BT on the future of a number of phone boxes in the district. He referred to previous meetings of the Engagement PDG at which the issue of BT’s proposal to remove 72 kiosks had been discussed and the Group together with the Scrutiny Committee had objected to the closures.   BT now had a new scheme where a Parish Council can adopt a kiosk which meant that BT would remove all equipment from the kiosk and the maintenance would pass to the Parish Council. This was with regard to the old style red phone boxes not the new modern ones.  BT was proposing this with 47 parish councils which represented 29% of the payphones in the Council’s area.  The District Council who were one of the statutory consultees had contacted all the Parish Councils asking them if they wanted:

i)                    To adopt the kiosk

ii)                  The District Council to lodge an objection on their behalf

iii)                The District Council to maintain objections where one exists from previous proposals.

Of those parishes who had responded 20 wished the Council to object, two wished to pursue adoption, one wished the box and contents to be totally removed and three nothing. 

Members were very concerned about the latest proposals and the discussion raised the following issues:

• by removing the kiosk’s contents people would not have access to emergency services.  
• Concern that only half of the Parish Councils had responded to the Council’s letter.  Did they not care that a reliable form of communication in an emergency was being taken away from them.  It was of paramount importance in an emergency that the kiosks and contents remained regardless of the number of times they were used.
• phone boxes were often used as landmarks on Ordnance Survey maps, were BT informing the OS when they removed the boxes and were the OS going to print new maps?
• With the progress in technology surely BT could maintain the current status quo. 
• Members felt strongly that each village should have access to emergency services facilities or a least access to a working phone box that was within easy walking distance of a village.
• Some comments were made about three kiosks that had previously been taken away in Grantham, those living close to the kiosks had not been notified that they were being removed was the “thin edge of the wedge”.

Some Members queried how extensively the parish council’s had consulted their communities about these proposals and it was suggested that those Parishes who wished to dispose of the whole box or the contents must inform the District Council why and the reasoning behind their decision. It was commented that people who were most vulnerable would be the least likely to attend Parish or Council meetings or look at websites informing them of what BT’s proposals were.  It was proposed and seconded that at this stage the Engagement PDG deplored any removal of the BT Phone boxes and the equipment contained therein.  An emergency call facility should be retained within each village or certainly within easy walking distance of a village.  If Parish Council’s wished to have their phone boxes removed or the equipment removed and keep the shell they must contact the District Council stating the reasons why they wished the box to be removed and also show what discussions had taken place in the parish/village about the proposal.