‘Vital’ phone boxes in East Lancashire could disappear from the streets

BT has unveiled plans to remove them after a ‘usage decline of 90 per cent’ in the past decade.

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The company has recommended that 50 should go in the Ribble Valley, 17 in Pendle, 14 in Burnley, 12 in Rossendale, six in Blackburn with Darwen and three in Hyndburn.

Ribble Valley Cllr Ged Mirfin, who represents Billington and Old Langho, said the proposed plans could have its problems.

He said: “We all know the payphones are not used as often anymore due to the rise in mobile phones.

“But in an emergency, if there’s one about then it could be vital to someone’s welfare.

“Also, not many elderly residents have mobiles and would potentially use them if their own phone wasn’t working.

“It would be a shame for them to go, they are part of our history as we’ve all used one over the years.”

Communities would get the chance to ‘adopt a kiosk’ and lose the phone service.

Parish councils and charities could take the booths on for £1 and use them for other purposes.

A defibrillator was installed into a telephone box in Clitheroe in 2014 and Wiswell has kept its iconic red kiosk as a work of art.

In Burnley, a booth in Hurstwood Lane also earned a reprieve when it was granted listed status.

There are around 1,000 phone boxes in Lancashire, of which just 112 are red boxes with slightly more than 50 per cent still commercially viable - this compares with a national average of 30 per cent.

A BT spokesman said: “We are 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.

“In all instances where there’s no other payphone within 400 metres, we’ll ask for consent from the local authority to remove the payphone.