TELECOMS giant BT has proposed removing a number of pay phones from Alcester and Studley.

Two Phones in Alcester and three in Studley have been earmarked to go.

Stratford-on-Avon District Council, as the relevant local authority, has begun an online public consultation on the plans.

It is currently consulting with residents and parish councils giving them three options:

• To agree to the removal

• To adopt the callbox for use by the local community

• To object to the removal

The council said BT chose the phone boxes as they were used infrequently.

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

The individual call boxes can all be identified by a notice posted on them by BT and directing any comments to Stratford-on-Avon District Council.

The consultation is now open until Monday, November 4.

To take part or for more information, go to stratford.gov.uk/consultation-performance/bt-payphone-removal.cfm

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.