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by James Scott
Villagers are considering future uses for a red telephone box in Wye, with an information point or a defibrillator housing being two options.
Wye with Hinxhill Parish Council adopted the redundant Grade-II listed K6 phone box at Upper Bridge Street to preserve it as part of the street scene.
The box was moved five metres along the pavement on January 7 to allow access to the entrance steps of the medieval undercroft, which is being restored.
The parish council adopted the phone box to ensure the renovation of the cellar, which is the village’s oldest secular building, could go ahead.
Parish councillor Richard Bartley said: “The parish council has always understood that BT intended to maintain the phone box in a functional state, and therefore the council has not had to consider other options. This situation has now changed.”
BT asked for £9,000 to move and reinstate it as a working phone box, but as it was being used for calls less than twice a week and the minimum charge is now 60p, the council felt it did not make financial sense.
As a result the parish council opted to adopt the box from BT for a nominal fee of £1. The phone and wiring was subsequently removed but power will be returned to the phone box as part of the undercroft project.
The parish council is considering suitable uses for it and is welcoming ideas.
One option being looked at, considering the elderly population in the village, is to house a life-saving defibrillator to restart someone’s heart should they suffer a cardiac arrest.
Cllr Bartley said: “We’re open to suggestions for a future use for it. The two views put forward so far are as an information point or as a defibrillator housing.”
“The only problem with that is you would need people to be trained to use it and the phone box would need to be locked.”
In nearby Bodsham their red telephone box has been put to good use as a library. Other parish councils have converted boxes into museums, photo galleries and swap shops.
