London,
21
February
2023
|
11:32
Europe/London

Camden Council takes tough action to tackle phone boxes blight on Tottenham Court Road

Camden Council has served breach of condition notices on 19 phone kiosks on Tottenham Court Road requiring their removal.

With the growth in mobile phone ownership, use of public telephone kiosks has declined. Seldom used, many are now largely redundant with low call numbers - an average of only 4.8 calls a month per kiosk, and in a poor condition which often attracts vandalism and anti-social behaviour.

Councillor Danny Beales, Cabinet Member for New Homes, Jobs and Community Investment

“Tottenham Court Road is just over a kilometre long, but there are 32 phone kiosks located on it, some of these are poorly maintained and others are currently not working at all.

“We have taken great steps to improve the public realm in Tottenham Court Road, it has undergone a major transformation through the West End Project, but the unnecessary number of poorly managed and underused phone kiosks detract from the good work that has been done. "

Councillor Danny Beales, Cabinet Member for New Homes, Jobs and Community Investment

The phone kiosks were originally installed by phone operators under permitted development rights, granted by the government to allow for the installation of telecommunications equipment at a time when mobile phones were not in common use.

Those permitted development rights were granted subject to the condition that phone kiosks and equipment should be removed if they are no longer required for telecommunication purposes.

Councillor Beales continued:

“The number of kiosks which exist on our streets are simply not needed for the purpose they were installed. Despite our best efforts to work with the phone providers to seek removal of some of them, there has been a lack of positive action on their part, and instead they have sought planning and advertisement consent to replace kiosks with digital advertising structures with phone capabilities.  

“Times have changed, there is less demand for phone boxes and more demand for space for pedestrians. Removal of unused poorly maintained boxes will allow us to address this.

“Whilst we often lack all the powers, we need to fully address this issue and have asked for greater national changes to enable councils to act. We hope that the action we have taken today in Tottenham Court Road shows that we will not stand by and allow our streets to be blighted by phone boxes in disrepair, that clutter the street, serving no purpose.  

“We hope this will encourage providers to start to take better responsibility for their equipment and remove these redundant kiosks, which now represent little more than advertising billboards, improving Camden’s streets for the better.”

 

  • The notices require the removal of the kiosks by 18 March 2023
  • There will still be 13 operational kiosks on Tottenham Court Road, if the providers comply with all breach of condition notices. This is sufficient to ensure that the public have convenient access to public phones

Notices served

BT phone kiosks

  • EN19/1010 (Ref: 0207 383 7182) – pavement outside 132 Tottenham Court Road, London
  • EN19/1011 (Ref: 0207 387 6266) – pavement outside 132 Tottenham Court Road, London
  • EN19/0957 (Ref: L2 0207 436 8109) – pavement outside 23 Tottenham Court Road, London
  • EN19/0958 (Ref: 0207 436 7968) – pavement outside 23 Tottenham Court Road, London
  • EN19/0992 (Ref: 0207 436 7390) - pavement outside 200-208 Tottenham Court Road, London
  • EN19/0994 (Ref: 0207 436 7491) - pavement outside 200-208 Tottenham Court Road, London
  • EN19/0970 (Ref: R3 - 0207 323 4077) - pavement outside 220-224 Tottenham Court Road, London
  • EN19/0991 (Ref: R4 - 0207 323 4078) - pavement outside 220-224 Tottenham Court Road, London
  • EN19/0966 (Ref: L12 0207 636 1015) - pavement outside 39 Tottenham Court Road, London
  • EN19/0967 (Ref: L13 0207 636 1761) on pavement outside 39 Tottenham Court Road, London

New World Phone and Clear Channel

  • EN19/0962 (Ref: 0207 255 2087) - pavement outside 29 Tottenham Court Road, London
  • EN19/0963 (Ref: 0207 580 7538) - pavement outside 29 Tottenham Court Road, London
  • EN19/0965 (Ref: 0207 255 2147) - pavement outside 39-45 Tottenham Court Road, London
  • EN19/1006 (Ref: 0207 580 7241) - pavement outside 104 Tottenham Court Road, London
  • EN19/1007 (Ref: 0207 580 7529) - pavement outside 104 Tottenham Court Road, London
  • EN19/1008 (Ref: 0207 383 7138) - pavement outside 114 Tottenham Court Road, London
  • EN19/1009 (Ref: 0207383 2552) - pavement outside 114 Tottenham Court Road, London

Infocus

  • EN19/1002 (Ref: CAM7016MU) - pavement outside 80-81 Tottenham Court Road, London
  • EN19/1005 (Ref: CAM7017MU) - pavement outside 105 Tottenham Court Road, London