Hope for phone box

Greenloaning site bid

Perth and Kinross Council is to veto plans to close down 11 of the 84 threatened BT telephone boxes in the area, the Strathearn Herald can reveal.

In Strathearn and Strathallan only one booth - at Greenloaning - could be saved under the bid by the local authority.

Bu t c o m mu n i t y intervention for 16 other, unidentified, kiosks could have some bearing on the remainder.

The Greenloaning site could be saved because of its remoteness, with distance from the nearest alternatives – in Ashfield near Dunblane and Blackford – deemed too far away.

The commu n i t y council area of Braco and Greenloaning had a phone box closed down at Smiddy Brae, Braco, following a previous round of closures.

PKC says that it has also lodged objections on the basis of poor mobile phone coverage.

Locally sites at Kinkell Bridge, Auchterarder’s Feus and Townhead, Aberuthven, Muirton near Gleneagles, Moray Street in Blackford, New Fowlis, Gilmerton, Quoig between Crieff and Comrie, Madderty and three kiosks in Crieff - Gallowhill, Broich Terrace, McOwan Avenue - are under threat from closure because of low usage and high maintenance costs.

During consultation last year, BT said there were 148 of its payphones in Perth and Kinross, meaning more than half could be lost, but stressed the changes are not set in stone and communities can move to save the assets – including under a partnership agreement.

Community councils were invited to respond to the consultation.

A spokesperson for BT said: “Any removal of payphones is carried out in strict adherence to the Ofcom guidelines and, where appropriate, with the consent of local authorities.

“In all instances where there’s no other payphone within 400 metres, we’ll ask for consent from the local authority to remove the payphone.

“Where we receive objections, we won’t remove it.

“As an alternative to removal, we will continue to promote our Adopt a Kiosk scheme to all councils whilst being committed to maintaining payphones.”