Herefordshire ensures BT gets the message on kiosk cull plans

Thousands of people in Herefordshire are engaged in fighting BT's proposals to axe 111 public telephone boxes across the county.

Telecommunications giant BT wants to cull nearly one in three kiosks in Herefordshire because they do not make enough money - but communities have hit back in force and say the payphones are needed in an emergency.

Herefordshire Council has published on its website its first notification for local people to assess and comment on before the consultation ends on 26 September. The council has received thousands of emails, comments and letters concerning 92 separate payphones.

However, there are a further 18 phone boxes that are not 'spoken for' by anyone, which means they almost certainly will go, and of the 92 phones the public has commented on, five of those are not considered essential (although in two cases local people wanted the empty shell to remain because it looked nice). And one telephone box has already been taken away from the village of Monkland near Leominster without any public consultation.

The result is that communities are now concentrating on fighting for 87 kiosks to be saved. The main concern is that if they go there may be no way for people to contact help in an emergency. The findings from the consultation so far are that:

· In more than two out of three cases, it is the lack of a dependable mobile telecommunications signal that worries people most.

· In 22 communities, the fact that the telephone boxes are depended on by elderly or vulnerable people is a concern;

· In five cases the payphones are used regularly by children attending a nearby school to contact their parents;

· In another five communities the objection was that the phones were used by people who simply could not afford to pay for a landline;

· In 21 localities the kiosks are regarded as essential for the tourism industry as the service was used by walkers and other visitors;

· In six cases the phones were reported to be out of order and in a poor state of repair, but were still needed by the community.

Many people said their telephone kiosks had proved their worth in the past during power cuts, flooding or severe snowfalls.

"The main reason BT give for wanting to scrap payphones is that people now rely more on their mobile phones", said the leader of Herefordshire Council Roger Phillips, "but in the majority of cases where telephone kiosks are under threat, the mobile telecommunications coverage is poor or non-existent. People are telling us that the phones are vital lifelines in their communities and without them, lives could be lost in an emergency".

The full details of the payphones under threat, and the reasons why people feel they should be saved, are available on the Herefordshire Council web site on: http://www.herefordshire.gov.uk/council_gov_democracy/news/35747.asp

Further responses are invited either on those telephone boxes for which Herefordshire Council has not yet received any comments to date or on those for which comments have been received. Contact Anthony Bush, parish liaison and rural services officer at Herefordshire Council, Plough Lane, PO Box 4, Hereford HR4 0XH, or email abush@herefordshire.gov.uk