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Threatened payphones receives lifeline call
TWO PAYPHONES near Seaford threatened with the axe have been saved following objections from Wealden District Council.
BT has agreed not to remove the phone boxes at West Dean and Litlington after the authority argued against the plans.
Several other pay phones in the Wealden area have also been saved and a phone box in Wartling has been listed by English Heritage after the council flagged up its importance to the local area's history.
BT announced last June that various payphones close to the Seaford and the surrounding area had been earmarked for removal, saying the network needed to be trimmed.
But it did say any which satisfied 'a social need' would be reprieved.
Wealden District Council objected to both the West Dean kiosk and the one in Litlington being removed which received 10 letters and three letters respectively with representations from the public and Cuckmere Valley Parish Council.
The pay phone in West Dean is a rare green GSK6 kiosk which is within a Conservation area and is in a popular tourist area and will be included within the proposed South Downs National Park.
Wealden District Council also listed similar reasons for why the other pay phone, a GSK6 kiosk, would not be removed and added mobile phone coverage in that area was reported to be poor.
In both cases a request to English Heritage has been made for individual listing.
Philip Davies, English Heritage planning and development director for the south, said, "We share the passion people have for these much-loved phone boxes.
"They are icons that contribute to the character of many historic areas across England.
"Listing, however, doesn't work as a 'preservation order', it is for identifying only the country's most remarkable architecture.
"So I'm afraid we can't list all examples of red kiosks and use it just as a way of saving things.
"Only some, such as the excellent example in Wartling, pass the test. That is why we joined up with BT to find other good ways of saving them, such as the 'Adopt a Kiosk' scheme.
"The local community really values these phone boxes and we will be delighted to help them find a way to keep those that aren't listable."
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Sunday 27 May 2012
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