COMMUNITY groups are being urged to 'adopt' a red telephone kiosk for just £1 during the coronavirus lockdown - with two up for grabs in the Bromsgrove district.

Kiosks on Bear Hill, Alvechurch, and Groveley Lane, Cofton Hackett, are among 236 phone boxes up for adoption across the West Midlands and more than 3,000 nationwide.

People have been thinking innovatively across the country to transform red phone boxes for good, from community foodbank donation points to illuminating the red kiosks blue as a tribute to the NHS.

More than 6,000 phone boxes have been adopted by communities since BT set up its ‘Adopt a Kiosk’ scheme in 2008.

With most people now owning a mobile phone, calls made from public telephones have fallen by around 90 per cent in the past decade.

BT's only rule is that private individuals cannot purchase the kiosks unless they own the land the box stands on.

Otherwise, the kiosks can only be bought by local authorities, parish, town or community councils, or registered charities.

BT says it will consider adoption requests to house defibrillators in more modern boxes and will continue to provide electricity, if already in place, for adopted boxes,

Sarah Walker, BT Enterprise unit director for the Midlands, said: “We’ve seen some amazing transformations of our phone boxes by communities who’ve adopted our iconic red payphones during the coronavirus pandemic.

“With more than 6,250 payphones already adopted across the UK, the scheme has proved to be really popular and there are still plenty of kiosks available should communities want to preserve them.

"The opportunities for communities are endless and we’re pleased to be giving even more local communities the chance to get involved.

"Applying is quick and easy and we’re always happy to speak to communities about adopting our traditional BT red phone boxes.”

For further details on how to apply to Adopt a Kiosk, simply go to www.bt.com/adopt where application forms and information can be found.