Phone boxes under threat in Yapton

They are among five of the once familiar sights which BT plans to remove from the Bognor Regis area. The company is carrying out consultation into its proposals.

They will see the phone boxes in North End Road, Yapton, and Bilsham Road, Yapton, removed in a few months. The others likely to be removed are in Barrack Lane, Aldwick; Arundel Road, Fontwell; and Westergate Street, Woodgate.

They are among 16 call boxes around the Arun district earmarked for removal.

Yapton Parish Council wants to see the Bilsham Road phone box kept for emergency calls because it is closest to the children's play area and other recreational facilities on the playing field.

BT Payphones project liasion officer Rick Thompson says in a letter about the proposals that the number of calls made by BT payphones has more than halved in the past three years as mobile phone ownership has risen.

"Striking a balance between the growing commercial pressures and providing an effective payphone service is vital.

"BT has managed to keep its payphone business viable by careful management of costs.

"However, this challenge is becoming ever more demanding.

"So, BT constantly needs to review payphone usage and, on occasions, looks to re-align the public payphone provision more closely to the reducing demand that still exists."

Consultation about the proposed removals ends in early July.

But Mr Thompson states further removals are likely.

BT no longer has to consult about taking out payphones within 400m of another phone box.

He says there are a number of these payphones within the Arun district 'which we will be addressing over the forthcoming months'.

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