BT Payphones proposed removal - Have your say

British Telecom has started a national consultation on their proposals to remove a number of the public payphone callboxes across the country.

As part of this consultation exercise, 13 payphones have been identified for removal across Stratford-on-Avon District

The removal will include the phone box and the equipment - if the phone box is listed, the telephony will be removed, and the kiosk will be locked.

The proposed kiosks are:

• Warmington
• Shotteswell
• Little Dassett
• Wilmcote
• Alderminster
• Wolverton
• Welford-on-Avon
• Coughton
• Wellesbourne (Chestnut Square)
• Charlecote
• Harbury
• Bishops Itchington
• Southam (Mayfield Road)

The consultation is now open until Tuesday 13^th May 2025.

Responses can be made in relation to your local callbox or to the overall proposal. Please go to https://www.stratford.gov.uk/consultation-performance/bt-payphone-removal.cfm for further information and complete the short online survey form or alternatively email: consultation@stratford-dc.gov.uk

BT indicates that overall use of payphones has declined by over 90% in the last decade and the need to provide payphones for use in emergency situations is diminishing all the time, with at least 98% of the UK either having 3G or 4G coverage.

As long as there is network coverage, it's now possible to call the emergency services, even when there is no credit or no coverage from your own mobile provider. Phone boxes are not being removed where there is no network coverage, in accident blackspots, and a number of other locations which meet criteria.

Communities may be able to 'adopt' phone boxes to turn into something completely different 

With payphone usage falling, communities are looking at new ways of using them.  Thousands of boxes have been reinvented as cafes, mini-libraries, and defibrillator sites. Communities can adopt most red boxes for just £1.