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29
May
BT to remove most of district's last public phone boxes
Many of the last public phone boxes in the district are to be removed as part of a region-wide rationalisation exercise by BT.
The telecoms company identified 18 payphones for possible removal and sent proposals to North Yorkshire Council back in February.
By law, BT must hold consultations before removing “last at site” payphones – in other words, those where there is no alternative within 400 metres.
Consultations for each of the sites were dealt with through North Yorkshire Council's planning process and the outcomes are included in a report prepared for the council’s corporate director of community development ahead of a meeting on June 4.
The meeting will consider the council’s response to proposals for more payphone removals throughout the county, but the fate of the Harrogate district phone boxes has already been decided.
The payphone in Masham will be retained.
Of the 18 earmarked in the Harrogate district, seven will be removed completely. They are at:
- Bickerton
- Bishop Thornton
- Bishop Monkton
- Knaresborough, Wetherby Road
- Middleton, near Ilkley
- Ripon, junction of Clotherholme Road and Lark Lane
- Warthermarske, near Masham
The payphone at Warthermarske. Image: Google Streetview.
Nine more will remain in place but have their telephony removed. These are the ones at:
- Baldersby
- Baldersby St James
- Denton
- Farnham
- Fearby
- Kirk Hammerton
- Knaresborough, Market Place
- Leathley
- Timble
The payphone at Baldersby St James. Image: Google Streetview.
BT says it needs to remove the payphones because not enough people have been using them. The phone in Knaresborough’s Market Place, for example, was one of the busiest on the list, but was still only used 48 times over the year, while the one in Bishop Thornton was used just once.
Those at Baldersby, Baldersby St James, Farnham, Middleton, Warthermarske and Wath were not used at all.
The payphone at Farnham. Image: Google Streetview.
Just two payphones on the list of 18 will be retained: those at Wath, near Ripon, and on Little Market Place in Masham.
BT have not yet revealed why they are saving these two, but the Masham payphone is the most used of the 18 – it was used 50 times over the year – and the payphone in Wath may have been saved following an objection by Wath and Norton Conyers Parish Council, which said it was a “vital means of communication” in the village.
The payphone at Wath has been spared. Image: Google Streetview.
In its submission to North Yorkshire Council, the parish council wrote:
We have had four occasions, in recent years, when we have needed the defibrillator, which is on the outside of the Village Hall. Reception is so bad, locally, that we have a notice on the defibrillator box, advising people to use the public phone box.
As you might know, it is essential to be able to speak to the medical advisor, by mobile, when being given instructions as to what to do with the defibrillator. The machine was used on three out of the four occasions, on local residents of our community and for it to work properly, we need mobile reception.
Recently, we have had two power cuts in the village, when digital landlines haven't worked.
There is no word yet as to when the payphones or their telephony will be removed.
The Stray Ferret has contacted BT for more details.
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