Shropshire Council is seeking feedback from the public as well as from any interested bodies including parish councils and town councils, after BT commenced consultation with the Council in regard to proposed removal of 61 payphones across the county. This consultation runs through until 12th June, following an extension agreed due to the forthcoming local elections.
These payphones are a mix of traditional style red K6 kiosks and modern style KX100 kiosks. Red kiosks may be adopted by town and parish councils and charitable organisations, for any community use; modern style kiosks can only be adopted to house defibrillators. Individuals cannot adopt kiosks themselves.
A total of 13 of the red K6 kiosks are listed, meaning that the structures will not be removed should there not be any local interest in their adoption. BT have advised that in that scenario, the kiosk structure would be locked by themselves following the removal of the operational telephony.
The council no longer has the power of veto over removals, following changes made by Ofcom to the Universal Service Obligation placed upon BT and KCOM, which came into effect in June 2022. Ofcom have instead replaced the local veto with a set of criteria to assess reasonable user needs prior to the removal of a ‘last at a site’ Public Call Box (PCB). BT is required to then carry out consultation with the Council as the relevant local body to seek any representations from us for each PCB.
The Ofcom criteria sets out to protect last at a site PCBs where:-
- they do not have coverage from all four mobile network providers; or
- they are located in an area with a high frequency of accidents or suicides; or
- they have made 52 or more calls over the past 12 months (ie the equivalent of one call per week); or
- there is other evidence of a reasonable need for the PCB.
Lezley Picton, Leader of the Council, said:-
“Consultation by BT on this proposed removal of 61 operational payphones in the county runs through to 12th June, following an extension sought and accommodated in the light of the forthcoming local elections. The opportunity is there for parish and town councils or charitable bodies to seek to adopt a red kiosk for community use or a modern style one to house a defibrillator.
“Equally, there is opportunity to share feedback with the Council should there be a local view that a payphone in their area should remain operational. This could include for example feedback about local flooding issues of which BT may be unaware, or ongoing concerns about its usefulness for helpline calls or calls from people needing to access emergency services or other essential services, who may not have a mobile phone.
“Council officers will collect views from this point forward, and will then issue a draft provisional view after the elections on 1st May, alerting new councillors for Shropshire Council and for town and parish councils accordingly at that time. In this way, their feedback may then be factored in to the final representations sent in to BT ahead of the revised deadline for doing so.”
The payphones listing includes details by BT of mobile phone coverage across four networks, usage in the last 12 months, and whether or not in their view the payphone is needed for helplines or is in a high accident or suicide risk area, according to their national knowledge.
Initial feedback is invited via email to the named officer contact – [email protected] – by 4pm on Friday 2nd May 2025. This will allow officers time to collate the feedback before issuing draft views in each case the following week, allowing a further opportunity to feed back before collated views on all the payphones on the list are submitted to BT by the deadline of Thursday 12th June 2025.
Further information
Ofcom has stated that it acknowledges that they received comments during the 2021/2022 consultation raising concerns about either too many, or too few, PCBs being removed but, overall, consider that their approach strikes an appropriate balance. In particular, the new criteria sets out to ensure that PCBs that are still needed are retained to provide a safety net for those who rely on them, whilst also ensuring that PCBs that are not needed can be removed through a transparent and consistent process.
Where Shropshire Council does not hear back from a local community, we will consider all factors in the light of the revised Ofcom guidance. Whilst we no longer have the power of veto, we will act on behalf of our communities and their diverse needs in order to seek to ensure that, where we consider a case could or should be made for a kiosk to be retained, we will present our evidence accordingly. This is in no small part due to our situation as a large, rural, and sparsely populated county, with an ageing population, scattered locations of services and amenities, ongoing needs for payphone usage to access emergency and essential services, and mobile phone coverage issues for residents and visitors alike.
If BT and KCOM consider that a last at a site PCB is not protected by the criteria and they wish to remove that PCB, they must consult with the relevant public body for a period of 90 days by: – providing a written notice to the relevant public body setting out all the relevant evidence as against the criteria; and – publishing a prominent notice on the PCB with details of the consultation process.
Following the conclusion of the consultation process, BT or KCOM must notify the relevant public body of its decision, setting out written reasons for the decision, including how it has taken account of any submissions received. This decision must be published on BT or KCOM’s website at the same time as being notified to the public body.
The relevant public body has 21 days in which to request that BT or KCOM undertake a review of any removal decision. BT and KCOM must assess the merits of such requests and, when undertaking a review, must ensure it is carried out by a senior person who was not connected with the initial decision, and the outcome must be notified to the relevant public body as well as published on BT or KCOM’s website.
BT and KCOM can only remove a last at a site PCB after either: (a) the period for requesting a review has expired; or (b) where a review has been requested, once they have published the outcome of that review.
Ofcom carried out the consultation in November 2021 around proposed changes to the universal service obligation placed upon BT and KCOM. Shropshire Council was one of the 25 respondents to this consultation. The council has since sought to articulate our ongoing concerns that the changes may have negative consequences for our communities who live here and for those who visit here and work here.
This included concerns that the definition of a last at a site PCB did not account for other potential local factors such as geography and access to facilities.
In its response, Ofcom stated:-
“We consider that our definition of a ‘site’ remains appropriate, and it sufficiently takes account of local geography given that it is based on a 400m walking distance from the PCB (as opposed to distance as the crow flies, which would not account for factors such as rivers or railways). We remain of the view that BT and KCOM should not be required to consult on removal of PCBs that are not the last at a site. If there is another PCB in the local area, then this should be sufficient to meet the reasonable needs of users. We also note that BT would have an incentive to retain those PCBs which have higher usage (e.g. because they are located near a transport hub) because such PCBs are more likely to be profitable. “
The PCB listing from BT, along with guidance documents on adoptions and maintenance of kiosks, and the Ofcom consultation report, may be found on the Shropshire Council website at: https://www.shropshire.gov.uk/shropshire-council/bt-payphones/
