BT Applies To Remove 38 Phone Boxes Across Guildford Borough

Published on: 30 Oct, 2016
Updated on: 30 Oct, 2016

Thirty-eight public telephone boxes are set to be removed from across the borough of Guildford if BT’s application to the council’s planners gets the go ahead.

Phone box in Onslow Village that BT has applied to be removed.

In a letter from BT to the council’s head of planning, dated October 6, the telecoms firm notes that it has placed notices on the payphones it wishes to remove and gives a date of January 7, 2017, when 90-day period in which people can comment on the proposals expires.

This phone box is in Liddingtopn New Road near the corner of Aldershot Road.

This phone box is in Liddington New Road near the corner of Aldershot Road. BT has applied to Guildford Borough Council for planning permission to remove it.

In its application that can be viewd on the council’s website BT notes:”Overall use of payphones has declined by over 90 per cent in the last decade and the need to provide payphones for use in emergency situations is diminishing all the time, with at least 98 per cent of the UK having either 3G or 4G coverage. This is important because as long as there is network coverage it’s now possible to call the emergency services, even when there is no credit or no coverage from your own mobile provider.

Another phone box proposed for removal is this one in Southway, Westborough.

It adds that a recent Ofcom affordability report found that most people do not view payphones as essential for most consumers in most circumstances.

To find out where the payphone are in the borough of Guildford that BT wants to remove, click here and go to the planning section on the council’s website.

BT has applied for planning permission to remove this phone box in Frog Grove Lane, Wood Street Village.

BT has applied for planning permission to remove the phone box in Frog Grove Lane, Wood Street Village.

Responses to BT Applies To Remove 38 Phone Boxes Across Guildford Borough

Bernard Parke Reply

October 30, 2016 at 5:42 pm

The Onslow Village phone box came under threat some 20 years ago when, as I was a councillor at that time, a petition was raised to save it in the then newly formed conservation area.
- Anna Ward Reply
  
  October 31, 2016 at 2:33 pm
  
  I lived by the one in Onslow village for most of the last seven years and never once saw anyone use it.
  
  I can understand why BT would want to stop paying to keep it working, but they’re nice objects so why not leave them be and just remove the phones? I’ve seen that done in other counties.
Martin Elliott Reply

October 30, 2016 at 7:01 pm

It’s a pity BT just use a standard claim of 98% coverage of mobile phone networks nationally.

Surely they could provide a specific signal strength for each network at the phonebox locations.

I’m sure every Surrey/Guildford resident knows how surprisingly poor signal can be for no reason.
Dave Middleton Reply

October 31, 2016 at 12:58 pm

Regrettably, public telephone kiosks are very much things of the past and nostalgia items, sadly often subject to vandalism and to use as improvised public urinals.

I think the last time I used one was in 1995 and that was while staying in a holiday cottage in a remote part of deepest darkest Yorkshire.

I can understand that BT want to reduce their costs involved in the maintenance and repair of the boxes, but it will be sad to see them go.
Wendy Johnson Reply

October 31, 2016 at 2:16 pm

Surely BT can wait to remove these boxes until after Brexit?

With the strength of the pound dropping recently, it is apparent that prices will rise.

For example, Apple has already raised the cost of one of its cheaper IT products by £100.

It may also herald the increase in the price of mobile phone products and services leaving poor and/or elderly people no other option but to use a phone box in an emergency.

Bear in mind that the people who make these decisions are not poor.
John Perkins Reply

October 31, 2016 at 2:45 pm

Regarding the quote: “as long as there is network coverage it’s now possible to call the emergency services, even when there is no credit or no coverage from your own mobile provider”.

Specious nonsense! What about those who do not have a mobile phone? What about those whose mobile is not covered at that point? What happens if the battery is dead?

BT have a monopoly on landlines and the quid pro quo is that they have to provide a service available to all.

Further quote: “most people do not view payphones as essential for most consumers in most circumstances”.

How many weasels can be crammed into a single sentence?
- Martin Elliott Reply
  
  October 31, 2016 at 11:59 pm
  
  Just to clarify, BT do not have a complete monopoly on landlines, particularly for example, in Guildford.
  
  The town and environs were recabled for TV (extended to broadband) and phones by Cabeltel over 20 years ago as were many other areas nationally.
  
  Needless to say, the Government cabling scheme quickly degraded to one franchise, Virgin Media.
  
  But the fact remains, around 4 million people have a VM landline as a separate pair of copper wires.
  - John Perkins Reply
    
    November 1, 2016 at 11:47 am
    
    In reply to Martin Elliott:
    
    Yes, those with cable outside their houses have an alternative, although having tried it I don’t envy them.
    
    Those in rural areas, presumably the least profitable, have little or no choice, so BT have an effective monopoly.
- Phil Mitchell Reply
  
  November 2, 2016 at 2:31 am
  
  In reply to Phil Mitchell:
  
  In this case contact any human being that has access to the rest of humanity.
  
  Or post a letter to the fire brigade.
  - John Perkins Reply
    
    November 8, 2016 at 9:29 am
    
    When she was eight-years-old my sister was playing where she shouldn’t, slipped and fell gashing her arm on a piece of glass. The cut ran from her fingers to half way up her forearm, severing veins.
    
    Despite the profuse bleeding she and her friends were clear-headed enough to follow the telegraph wires to a house that had a phone. (They had no money for the phone box and were unaware that they could use it to call the emergency services.)
    
    The ‘human being’ in the house told the distressed infant to “go home and tell your mummy”.
    
    A similar, though far less dramatic and not life-threatening, thing happened to me about 10 years ago. So pardon me if if don’t share this correspondent’s faith in the rest of humanity, they can be hard to find when you need them.
    
    The point is that taxpayers paid for these boxes and the right to use them. And they continue to pay by allowing BT its monopoly.
Simon Schultz Reply

November 1, 2016 at 11:17 am

If BT remove the phone boxes, where will superheroes get changed? I predict an ensuing crime wave.
Valerie Thompson Reply

November 1, 2016 at 3:43 pm

When they cabled through West Horsley some years ago they took it along the verge on the opposite side of the road to the houses.

We still have telephone poles and lines, perilously threaded through tree branches.

Two years ago a branch severed the line and BT took 13 days to repair it. Without a mobile the telephone box up the road was a lifeline.

While doing the cabling work, the company managed to sever the main electricity lines, blowing up my computer. It took about nine months of negotiations to get them to pay for a replacement. Cabling is a pipedream.
Charles Hope Reply

November 1, 2016 at 4:22 pm

West Horsley lost one of its phone boxes some years ago when someone put a rather large firework inside at about this time of year. The lid blew off and the sides the fell down. The box was not replaced
Phil Mitchell Reply

November 2, 2016 at 2:29 am

Honestly the last time I used a public phone was 25 years ago.

Who uses them?

They look great however (well the GBS ones) and should not in some cases be removed, just decommisioned.

Possibly re-tasked as suicide booths ahead of Brexit.
Anne Sanders Reply

November 2, 2016 at 5:37 pm

Maybe not many are used these days, but in places where you can’t get a mobile signal, a phone box could prove very useful, if not a lifesaver perhaps in the odd case?

Also, in Cornwall where we live I’ve seen several of these used to hold many books. The idea is that if you see one you like, you take it and replace it with another on your next visit. A great idea instead of removing them.
David Scotland Reply

November 3, 2016 at 12:01 am

Maybe UKIP could hire one for their next annual party conference venue?
Fiona Curtis Reply

November 4, 2016 at 6:14 pm

Does anyone live in an area where the public telephone box has been decommissioned and adopted by locals?

If so, I would be interested to hear about alternative uses as we are considering adopting ours here in Compton (we can’t have our superheroes exposing themselves after all). Are there any pitfalls we should be aware of?
Dave Middleton Reply

November 5, 2016 at 4:41 pm

The red phone kiosk in Shackelford Village has been adopted and, last time I was over that way, was being used as a village book exchange.
Peter Kyte Reply

November 6, 2016 at 4:36 pm

I see quite a few of the red phone boxes here in the USA. Typically outside of a pub/bar – the connection back to England can be dubious, but they look nice anyway.
Pauline Surrey Reply

November 6, 2016 at 8:40 pm

Quite a few end up in German towns too, when they are sold off.
Bernard Parke Reply

November 7, 2016 at 8:13 am

Perhaps it could be said that our red telephone boxes are rather like fire extinguishers.

Not in constant use but possible lifesavers in times of emergency.

It must be remembered that not everyone has a mobile phone.

Especially the old and vulnerable.
Jonathan Askew Reply

November 7, 2016 at 11:37 am

Converting them to house a defibrillator is another possibility that would retain the classic look and be of benefit to the community.

See: http://www.communityheartbeat.org.uk/convert-bt-kiosk for an example.