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Hello Jayme I have reported the damaged kiosk, the reference is above. I will highlight the matter the Field Manager. I cannot confirm when the repairs will be done. The repairs on the old style of kiosk - K6, are costly and the cast iron bars are not easy to have repaired. |
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If I may express one concern with regard to the conservation area near to Bridge No. 2 (it's actually within the All Saints' Marple Conservation Area). I know that a number of people have been complaining about the state of repair of the red BT phone box opposite the Ring o' Bells to both the council and to BT for nearly 12 months, yet absolutely nothing has happened and it has been allowed to deteriorate to the extent that it may now be beyond repair. I imagine this is possibly a deliberate policy on BT's part because they do not want to maintain these boxes. This phone box is specifically mentioned in the Conservation Area Character Appraisal : "There is an important group of historic street furniture outside the Ring O’Bells pub, comprising a K6 telephone kiosk (34) and an EIIR pillar box. Both are in use and reasonably well-kept. A wall EIIR letter box is situated in the boundary wall to the glebe land at All Saints’ Church." The telephone box is no longer in use or well kept and no longer looks anything like the photograph in the document. In fact it has actually become an eyesore. Can I please ask what the Council propose to do about this? Does it demonstrate that when it comes to big business these Conservation Areas and local councils actually have very little power or influence? If the powers granted by Conservation Area status have so little teeth in these circumstances then I think it is a real failure and wonder if there is any real point to them. I would like to see the council use the Conservation Area status to force BT to properly restore this phone box back to the way it should be. Please let me know what action has been taken to date over this and what steps the council proposes to take to remedy this situation, or have they given up? |
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With regard to your concerns relating to the telephone kiosk within All Saints conservation area, the Council’s powers in relation to conservation area designation relates to planning processes/policies and as an unlisted structure this telephone kiosk unfortunately is not under these controls. However BT and KCOM must publish any plans they have to remove a phone box from a particular location for full public consultation for a period of 90 days. They must display a notice on the call box to inform the public of their proposals and must inform the Local Authority. During this consultation period local bodies can object to and veto the proposals. This means that phone boxes in UK can not be removed without local bodies having the final say. Nevertheless it may be worth making representations to BT with regard to the telephone kiosk, which is within a conservation area and forming part of an important group of street furniture, now being in a poor state of repair, although I stress again that as this does not fall under ‘planning’ the Council does not have any direct control over these works. Justification that the public phone box is still a local service requirement may also help this cause. I will discuss this issue further with the Conservation Team Leader, Paul Hartley. It may also be possible to put an application to English Heritage for Spot listing of the kiosk so that statutory protection which is not afforded at present can be applied to it. Spot listing of telephone boxes however often requires that the kiosk forms part of the setting of a listed building and conservation area designation in itself is not usually justification enough. However the fact that this box forms part of a group of historic street furniture and forms the setting of a locally significant building (though not listed) may give some teeth to an application. If you have any further comments or queries or comments or I can be of any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact me. Best regards Fiona Albarracin Assistant Conservation Officer Tel: 0161 474 4561 fiona.albarracin@stockport.gov.uk |