WAVERLEY Borough Council have said it will fight to save payphones earmarked for removal by BT as a result of comments received during an ongoing public consultation period. At a meeting of the executive committee last week, councillors agreed to object to the removal of 31 of the 44 boxes subject to consultation, with objection to the other 13 based on subsequent comments from town and parish councils. BT contacted Waverley about their proposals to remove more than half of the 101 payphones in the borough because they considered the boxes to be little used and therefore no longer covering their costs. Waverley then asked for comments from all towns and parishes in the borough and consulted with the public. Among the responses were a 300-strong petition to save the Rowledge box, a plea from the local community in Hydestile, Godalming to give the payphone to the local parish and a group in Hambledon looking at achieving listed building status for their box through English Heritage. Bryn Morgan, portfolio holder for partnerships and community engagement, explained the objection process to the executive. "I don't think we should all say 'no' outright just because we all love red telephone boxes," he said. "We propose to create some criteria on which we would object to the removal of a box. These criteria will include the distance to the nearest alternative box, mobile phone coverage, the strategic position of the box or whether it was required for emergency calls. "If any box meets two of these criteria then we will object to its removal. We will not object to it simply because it wasn't used very much." He went on to say that following consultation with members of the public, the council now has a clear view about those payphones which towns and parishes wish to retain. "Many of the payphones in the borough are based in rural locations with patchy mobile phone reception and may be vital in an emergency situation. BT must fulfil its obligation to have an effective network across the area." Waverley has a right to use its local veto where it feels BT is not fulfilling its universal service obligation to local communities and has sought further comment from the public. Adam Taylor-Smith, portfolio holder for IT, said: "Recently we were concerned about the closure of post offices and now we're back fighting the cause for phone boxes. It just seems to be a constant battle to maintain services in the more rural parts of our borough." Waverley is sharing the findings of the consultation with local MP Jeremy Hunt, who has launched his own campaign for local payphones.
