Council objects to proposed removal of 151 Highland Payphones

17th August 2008

The Highland Council is objecting to the removal of 151 of the 192 payphones proposed for removal in the Highlands by BT.

In making its final response to BT, the Council has collated comments from community councils, community and voluntary groups, the police and individual members of the public.

The Council is very concerned that this is the third consultation to remove payphones from the Highlands in the last four years. It maintains that the rurality of the area and remoteness of many of the communities means that it is vital to maintain lifeline communications such as payphones within the area.

Council Convener Sandy Park said: "The Council is pleased to be able to respond to BT on behalf of Highland communities and wants to thank the public for the strong representations they have made to this consultation. Rural service provision is an important issue for the Highlands and the Council is very disappointed at the scale of BT's proposals. BT claims that it is making these proposals because of the growth in mobile phone technology and that the payphones are not profitable enough. However, in Highland, many of these phones are in areas where there is no mobile phone signal.

"BT appear to be using national criteria to determine their proposals in an area where circumstances are significantly different. The long stretches of remote roads and the high use of our mountains and coastlines for leisure mean it is vital that there is a strategic payphone network across the Highland area."