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- Give us £50,000 or we axe community lifeline, says BT
Give us £50,000 or we axe community lifeline, says BT
- By Chief Editor
- Published 1 Sep 2008
- Herefordshire
- Unrated
Herefordshire Council has rejected a request from BT for local taxpayers to put more money in the slot to save the 110 telephone boxes it wants to close in the county.
The telecommunications giant wants to axe one in three payphones in Herefordshire because they do not make enough profit - and has asked for £500 a year for each one, otherwise they could be scrapped. The annual bill for the county could be over £50,000.
The council says it is unfair to ask council taxpayers to fund the telephone boxes because BT has an obligation under Ofcom regulations to keep them open, as local people have said they are essential in an emergency.
Alternatively, BT has announced that iconic red telephone boxes might be allowed to remain once the phones have been removed and ‘adopted’ by local villages.
“Neither solution is really on”, said Herefordshire Council’s cabinet member for economic regeneration and community services Councillor Adrian Blackshaw.
“While some parish councils might want to retain their telephone boxes because there are an attractive feature, an empty telephone box is useless to anyone in an emergency. With mobile telecommunications either non-existent or poor across the county, payphones are a vital lifeline to large numbers of residents who cannot afford a landline or a mobile phone. Telephone boxes are also essential for tourists, walkers and schoolchildren in an emergency”.
“To ask local taxpayers to fund the boxes at £50,000 a year also is unacceptable. BT is shirking its responsibility to provide a service. The public already subsidises the telephone boxes through their other bills for landlines”.
Herefordshire Council has written to all parish councils about the threat. So far, the council has evidence of need from the community on 92
of the boxes. The council has previously identified 111 boxes at risk. BT has already whisked one away from the village of Monkland near Leominster last month, without any consultation.
BT originally set the 2 July as the deadline for consultation. But after lobbying the telecommunications regulator Ofcom, the council secured a deadline extension to 26 September. This is because BT was late in posting notification of the consultation in telephone boxes that could be closed.
Herefordshire Council is compiling a submission to the telecommunications giant by the new consultation deadline, and is consulting local people on the document it will present. A full list of telephones with reasons to save them is available on the council’s web site: www.herefordshire.gov.uk
The council says it has three main concerns about BT’s consultation:
1. BT has provided no evidence to show how telephone boxes are used in emergencies, they have said only that they are not used sufficiently for them to be profitable. The service obligation with the regulator means that BT cannot use money as a reason for closure.
2. BT needs to undertake a survey of mobile phone coverage in Herefordshire as part of their evidence supporting any proposals for pay phone closure, as this issue is crucial to BT’s obligation to maintain this line of communication in the event of an emergency.
3. BT has failed to present reasonable options for local people to consider – other than closure – or pay an extra £50,000 a year. Communities need to be allowed to put forward other ideas that might result in the telephone boxes becoming more viable.
People concerned about losing their local pay phone can contact Anthony Bush on 01432 260611; or email: abush@herefordshire.gov.uk or write to him at Herefordshire Council, Plough Lane, PO Box 4, Hereford, HR4 0XH.
The telecommunications giant wants to axe one in three payphones in Herefordshire because they do not make enough profit - and has asked for £500 a year for each one, otherwise they could be scrapped. The annual bill for the county could be over £50,000.
The council says it is unfair to ask council taxpayers to fund the telephone boxes because BT has an obligation under Ofcom regulations to keep them open, as local people have said they are essential in an emergency.
Alternatively, BT has announced that iconic red telephone boxes might be allowed to remain once the phones have been removed and ‘adopted’ by local villages.
“Neither solution is really on”, said Herefordshire Council’s cabinet member for economic regeneration and community services Councillor Adrian Blackshaw.
“While some parish councils might want to retain their telephone boxes because there are an attractive feature, an empty telephone box is useless to anyone in an emergency. With mobile telecommunications either non-existent or poor across the county, payphones are a vital lifeline to large numbers of residents who cannot afford a landline or a mobile phone. Telephone boxes are also essential for tourists, walkers and schoolchildren in an emergency”.
“To ask local taxpayers to fund the boxes at £50,000 a year also is unacceptable. BT is shirking its responsibility to provide a service. The public already subsidises the telephone boxes through their other bills for landlines”.
Herefordshire Council has written to all parish councils about the threat. So far, the council has evidence of need from the community on 92
BT originally set the 2 July as the deadline for consultation. But after lobbying the telecommunications regulator Ofcom, the council secured a deadline extension to 26 September. This is because BT was late in posting notification of the consultation in telephone boxes that could be closed.
Herefordshire Council is compiling a submission to the telecommunications giant by the new consultation deadline, and is consulting local people on the document it will present. A full list of telephones with reasons to save them is available on the council’s web site: www.herefordshire.gov.uk
The council says it has three main concerns about BT’s consultation:
1. BT has provided no evidence to show how telephone boxes are used in emergencies, they have said only that they are not used sufficiently for them to be profitable. The service obligation with the regulator means that BT cannot use money as a reason for closure.
2. BT needs to undertake a survey of mobile phone coverage in Herefordshire as part of their evidence supporting any proposals for pay phone closure, as this issue is crucial to BT’s obligation to maintain this line of communication in the event of an emergency.
3. BT has failed to present reasonable options for local people to consider – other than closure – or pay an extra £50,000 a year. Communities need to be allowed to put forward other ideas that might result in the telephone boxes becoming more viable.
People concerned about losing their local pay phone can contact Anthony Bush on 01432 260611; or email: abush@herefordshire.gov.uk or write to him at Herefordshire Council, Plough Lane, PO Box 4, Hereford, HR4 0XH.