Last call for red phone boxes?
MANY KIOSKS ARE BEING USED AS URINALS AND FOR PROSTITUTES’ ADVERTS
MORE phone boxes which are used for advertising, toilets or for prostitution could be removed in Westminster after the council managed to get seven redundant kiosks around Oxford Street taken away.
It is now considering looking at other areas such as Edgware Road, where callers are no longer using phone boxes, and is asking politicians to tell them about any which are no longer engaged for calls.
Westminster council said the widespread use of mobile phones meant the cubicles along the city streets were often now mainly used for advertising.
In a survey, it discovered there were more than 1,000 boxes in the borough, with many of them including some in Oxford Street and Marble Arch no longer used to make calls.
In the last two and half years, it received 350 planning applications for new phone boxes, mainly for use for adverts.
The council lobbied the government to change the rules so it could get them removed if they were not in use and managed to get seven redundant boxes removed from Oxford Street and surrounding roads.
Director of planning John Walker said: “While we might like the classic red kiosk that tourists might expect to see, there’s an awful lot put up in the 80s and 90s which are no longer making returns for the companies.”
He said he thought a lot of boxes were used by prostitutes.
Councillors on the annual planning and city development committee were asked to let him know of any areas the planning team should look at.
“It would suggest that Edgware Road is one we could do because there’s nearly one phone box every 10 to 15 yards,” said Mr Walker.
Jim Glen (Conservative, Tachbrook) said he noticed a phone box in Baker Street which was “just an advertising vehicle. It’s never used. I never see anyone in there.”
Susie Burbridge (Conservative, Lancaster Gate) said she was told some of the boxes in Covent Garden were used as a toilet.
Mr Walker said that some phone kiosks have a very important use for atrisk children reporting concerns about crime.
“We are told that some of the phone boxes are used by children in cases of abuse where they don’t want to use a mobile phone. It’s an anonymous call.”