Is it time to scrap Bournemouth’s unused phone boxes?

But there are so many unused phone boxes in Bournemouth that one councillor is calling for some of them to be taken away.

Cllr David Smith, town centre councillor and cabinet member for planning and environment, wants a review of phone boxes in the town.

He said: “I suggested having a review of all the phone boxes in the town centre and suggest BT gets rid of some because there are those all over the place that aren’t used.”

He has asked the town centre rangers employed by the Bournemouth Town Centre Business Improvement District (BID) to take a look at the phone boxes and advise on which are needed.

The use of phone boxes has declined by more than 90 per cent nationwide in the last decade, while 93 per cent of people now have a mobile phone.

A recent scout around for the BID logged phone boxes with doors missing and graffiti sprayed. A bank of four boxes on Meyrick Road were all vandalised and covered in graffiti, with no dialling tone from the phones.

Cllr Smith: “One of the things we’re trying to do is de-clutter as much as we can, to get rid of a lot of stuff. Where we’ve got these various boxes not being used, I think we’d like to get rid of them.”

He said he would approach BT to ask the public about whether some phone boxes could be done away with.

BT is only allowed to remove phone boxes on its own initiative if there is an alternative call box within 400 metres. If there is no such alternative, it has to consult local councils.

In the case of classic red phone boxes, BT has an Adopt a Kiosk scheme. More than 3,500 communities across the UK have adopted a box for as little as £1. Many have had defibrillators installed, while others have been turned into tiny art galleries, shops and cafes.

Other phone boxes have been used commercially as sites for advertising.

The classic red phone box dates from 1924, when Sir Giles Gilbert Scott won a competition among respected architects to come up with a design.