A county councillor in Neath Port Talbot has criticised plans by BT to remove 30 public payphones in the county, saying not everyone has the luxury of a mobile phone or landline.
BT wants to get rid of the telephone boxes, saying their overall use has declined by over 90% in the last decade.
The company said that as long as there was network coverage it was now possible to call emergency services even if someone didn’t have any credit.
As a result, the need to provide payphones for use in emergency situations was “diminishing all the time”, it explained, adding “at least 98% of the UK has either 3G or 4G coverage”.
However, Neath Port Talbot Councillor John Warman has called the plans “deplorable” and is urging communities to pull together to stop them being removed.
He said: “It’s important they stay – not everybody has the luxury of owning a landline or a mobile phone, and they can act as a lifeline for emergencies.”
Accusing BT of deliberately neglecting the payphones by failing to clean and maintain them in order to run them down and remove them, the Cimla ward councillor said: “The number of calls recorded to them were down because of this reason."
BT which is running a consultation on the planned removal said communities could "adopt" a traditional red heritage phone box for just £1 and turn them into something "inspirational” for their local area.
Mr Warman added: “Offering them to the communities to turn them into flower kiosks is not the answer.”
A BT spokesman said: “Most people now have a mobile phone and calls made from our public telephones have fallen by around 90% in the past decade.
“We consider a number of factors before consulting on the removal of payphones, including whether others are available nearby and usage.”
A formal BT consultation on the plans ends on October 28 although Neath Port Talbot Council is asking for responses to the proposals by August 29.
For more details search for the planning application number P2019/5263 on npt.gov.uk or on the kiosk adoption scheme visit bt.com/adopt
