8:55pm Monday 12th April 2010
By Peter Magill
AN UNDER-threat phone box in rural Burnley, which is Grade Two listed, has earned a reprieve, the Lancashire Telegraph can reveal.
BT had contacted Worsthorne-with-Hurstwood Parish Council over the future of the red kiosk in Hurstwood Lane.
Only a few people use the call box each year and there were question marks over whether a phone service would be kept.
BT wrote to the parish council asking whether it wanted to adopt the box, or knew if any community group wanted to sponsor it.
Under the adoption scheme, the phone box is handed over for a nominal £1 and the connection is withdrawn.
With sponsorship the service and box is maintained by a third party.
Parish council chairman Alan Lawson said: “We voted unanimously that BT should maintain the telephone service.
“Not everyone has a mobile phone, even these days, and there are areas which are blind spots for reception.
“Secondly the box is a Grade Two listed building and should be maintained as such.
"It is in a pretty rundown state and whoever bought the box would have those obligations for maintenance.”
Red kiosks were introduced in Britain in 1936 to celebrate the previous year’s silver jubilee of King George V.
The design was by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott.
BT spokesman Chris Orum said: “Because it is a listed building we will maintain it.”
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