FOUR public payphones are for the chop in Ellesmere Port and Neston.

And operators BT are consulting with the borough council about removing a fifth one.

A BT spokeswoman said: “There are four phones going to be removed in the borough where there are others within 400m.

“We don’t need the council’s approval as part of the Ofcom process.

“These are two together in Rivington Road, one in Station Road, both Ellesmere Port, and one in Drake Road, Neston.

“Meanwhile, there is a payphone in Ledsham Road, Little Sutton which we want to remove as part of a review of our kiosks.

“We are consulting with the borough council over it. The 90-day consultation period ends on September 7. The council has to come up with a social reason for us not removing it.”

BT, which has more than 61,700 payphones in the UK, has been reviewing the network since 2000 due to the popularity of mobile phones.

In a statement, BT said: “We are committed to providing a payphone service. However their usage has declined.

“We have therefore been constantly reviewing and rationalising our public payphone estate in order to meet demand.

“Almost 60% of our payphones are unprofitable, with almost 6,000 phones making less than one call a month, and more than 50% making less than one call a week.

“Payphone usage has halved in the last two years and calls are still declining at 20% year on year.”