DARTMOOR National Park Authority is against any future plans by BT to remove red telephone boxes where they are considered valuable as a public service or contribute to the cultural heritage.

BT is currently consulting communities on the moor and inviting parish councils to 'adopt' telephone kiosks for the sum of £1 — but under this scheme the equipment would be removed and the kiosk would just remain as heritage asset.

There are 47 red telephone boxes across 30 parishes in the national park, 20 of which are listed.

Officers for DNPA reported to members at their meeting last week that two parishes had stated they wished to adopt a kiosk, but a further 18 had declined. Most stated they would object to any future plans for removal, wanting them to continue as they were.

The meeting was told BT would not remove any kiosks parish councils did not wish to adopt at this time. Officers said, however, it was clear this issue would not disappear and BT would continue to pursue ways to rationalise the network of public call boxes.

Within some Dartmoor parishes there was a strong view that while many boxes might have low levels of use they were an important emergency provision in areas which still had poor mobile reception, particularly for visitors to isolated areas, members were told.

The authority agreed the following principles when responding to BT's consultation: that the loss of any telephone service considered to offer a valuable public service or emergency service be resisted, but anywhere where the loss of the telephone service was considered acceptable, the retention of an empty kiosk would only be appropriate where it was of conservation value in its local environment.