PLANS to remove 24 phone boxes from the Chester area have alarmed councillors.
British Telecom says the growth of mobile phones means fewer phone boxes are needed on the streets.
It wants to shed 24 boxes in and around Chester and 13 in the Vale Royal area. BT says it intends to maintain 31 loss-making phone boxes in Chester district and 25 in Vale Royal.
A spokesperson for BT said across the country less than half of BT's 72,000 phone boxes are profitable. It is conducting a nationwide review of phone boxes which will be completed by the end of 2005, and as part of this is consulting with district and parish councils about plans to remove specific kiosks.
Paul Hendron, director of BT Payphones, said: 'We recognise that people in Cheshire may have concerns about our plans to reduce the number of payphones, but I would like to reassure them that BT is still committed to the service, particularly for the communities who need us most. We will manage the changes sensitively through extensive consultation.'
However, at this month's meeting of Great Boughton Parish Council members expressed concern at plans to remove three phone boxes from their area, at the Boughton Heath park and ride site, on Pipers Ash and at the corner of Queens Road and Buckingham Avenue.
In a letter from BT, parish councillors were told 99% of UK homes now either have a landline or access to a mobile phone, 85% of people own a mobile phone and the number of calls made from pay phones has almost halved in the past three years.
Cllr Graham Proctor said: 'What it's telling us is that 15% of people don't have a mobile phone and if you are out without a mobile phone, you need to call someone in an emergency. It is not unheard of for phone lines to go down. It's not unheard of for there to be emergencies. This is about community safety.
'I would not expect telephones to all be profitable. I expect them to be a public service.'
Cllr Proctor added: 'Commercial drivers stop at the one in Pipers Ash and make calls. It's a point they have used for years.'
Cllrs Jim Latham and Paul Cheetham raised concerns about the park and ride site.
Cllr Latham said: 'Your mobile phone may have gone dead. The park and ride site is a public place of importance. It is not a highly expensive matter to maintain a phone box, not like a post office which has to be staffed. They are making a mountain out of a molehill.'
But Cllr Tom Bateman said: 'I can see from a business point of view why they are proposing this.'
