THERE might not be a call for them – but the removal of two of Gravesend’s traditional red phone boxes could be put on hold after the council decided to adopt them.

Last week the Gravesend Messenger newspaper exclusively revealed BT’s intention to scrap more than 70 of the iconic landmarks across Kent, along with about 330 other payphones.

Gravesend was set to lose its red boxes in The Grove and the High Street – with six out of 74 public payphones in the borough being earmarked for removal.

The others were in Cervia Way, Gravesend; Waterdales, Northfleet; Huntingfield Road, Meopham; School Lane, Higham; Istead Rise and Erskine Road, Vigo.

However, this week Gravesham Borough Council announced it has registered an interest in adopting two of the at-risk red boxes in the High Street.

A spokesman said the move was made well before the November 1 deadline, when councils had to inform BT if they were prepared to pay £500 per box per year to "adopt" a box.

BT drew up the hit list of payphones which it said are no longer profitable because of declining usage due to the expanding rate of mobile phone use.

At the start of the consultation there were 1,594 payphones in Kent - 63 per cent of which were deemed unprofitable.

Councils were given the options of adopting kiosks for historical reasons but having the phone removed, or sponsoring a kiosk at an annual fee of £500 to maintain the telephone service and box.

Cllr Mike Snelling, leader of GBC, said: "We wanted to keep the two in the High Street outside the old town hall as they fall inside the Heritage Quarter and that seems appropriate, but we could see no real reason to adopt the ones in The Grove."