A PUBLIC consultation is being held by South Lakeland District Council (SLDC) prior to BT’s proposed removal of seven public payphones in Lakes parish.

The payphones concerned are at Ambleside, on Wansfell Terrace, Blue Hill Road (recorded zero calls in the last 12 months); Rydal, at the junction of the A591 with the road to Rydal Mount (four calls); Clappersgate, by the A593 opposite the Hawkshead junction, (zero calls); Skelwith, by Foulstep/Skelwith Bridge road, (28 calls); Troutbeck, adjacent to the institute (11 calls); Grasmere, A591 adjacent to The Swan Hotel, Keswick Road, Grasmere (86 calls); Grasmere, Red Lion Square (71 calls); Grasmere, near toilet block in Stock Lane car park (10 calls). 

Consultation notices have been posted in all the affected payphones.

The current stance of SLDC is that not a single one of the payphones should be removed unless a community actively agrees to its removal, or if a community would like to adopt the phone box and change its use.

More information on the process of adopting a kiosk can be found at bt.com/adopt.

The consultation is open for comment until December 11 but SLDC has asked for all responses to reach them by December 4 so they can be analysed and included in the council’s final response to BT.

Email comments to t.dugdale@southlakeland.gov.uk or visit southlakeland.gov.uk. 

When BT originally announced its proposed removal of payphones nearly two years ago, it said the decision was based on figures showing that overall use of payphones had declined by more than 90 per cent in the last decade and their provision for use in emergency situations was diminishing all the time.

According to BT, at least 98 per cent of the UK had either 3G or 4G coverage, enabling mobile phone users to call the emergency services even if they had no credit on their phone or no coverage from their own mobile provider. 

However, Lakes Parish Council and other councils who responded to the consultation said that South Lakeland’s ageing population and the isolation of many rural villages provided plenty of reasons for retaining payphones in sparsely populated areas, where a payphone was a safety measure in emergencies.

Many areas in South Lakeland have poor mobile phone coverage and internet infrastructure and would rely on payphones in an emergency. Emergency response times could be particularly slow, so the speed of initial contact with the emergency services was vitally important.

This was important during adverse weather, when other communications might be cut, and payphones might play a vital role as a source of reliable communication and a way for communities to report and receive important information.

With visitor numbers increasing all the time, it was also noted that many cyclists and walkers might rely on payphones to report emergencies.

Low usage might also be recorded in payphones that had been left out of order, sometimes for several months.

These phone boxes were often left to deteriorate, and some were in a poor or filthy condition, which discouraged people from using them.

In November 2017, Lakes Parish Council agreed to resist removal of at least three of the most heavily used public payphones in the area, in locations where there are poor mobile signals, or at the bottom of popular walking routes.

These included the payphone at the bottom of Rydal Hill, another by The Swan at Grasmere, and the payphone at Elterwater, which BT removed in August before the consultation began.

Other news from the Lakes parish includes:

MEMBERS of Ambleside Cancer Care group held a cream tea at the Kelsick Centre and thanked all the supporters who helped raise £211 to support local people and their families affected by cancer. 

THERE are free tickets still available for Ambleside-Kirkstone Rotary’s silver Sunday tea party (2.30pm-4pm) on Sunday, October 6 at the Kelsick Centre, for older people living alone in the Lakes area. Telephone Margaret on 015394-31784. 

Meanwhile, Ambleside-Kirkstone Rotary Club visited Ambleside’s university campus with its academic director, Prof Lois Mansfield.

Ms Mansfield, as a previous Rotary ambassadorial scholar herself, was keen to meet A-K members and to build links with the community.

She also showed them the changes at the campus and gave members an insight into her plans for it. Rotarians look forward to working with staff and students. 

A TEAM from St John’s Hospice, Lancaster, will be taking their hospice roadshow to Ambleside Parish Centre on Wednesday, October 9 (6pm-8pm), to give local people the chance to meet staff, ask questions about hospice services and help them plan for the future.

The hospice provides free care, compassion and support for patients with life shortening illnesses, both those at home and in the hospice.