Days numbered for the last red phone boxes in the Black Country and Staffordshire

BT Group has begun a 90-day consultation period, which is due to end in January, to determine which of the 171 phone boxes may be taken out of use.

The telecommunications group want to get feedback from residents after 49 of them in total were not used even once in the past 12 months.

This includes 35 traditional red phone boxes, which have fast disappearing from the streets in recent years.

In the Black Country, 15 phone boxes in Dudley could go, three traditional red kiosks and five were not used in the past year.

A total of 14 boxes, including two which made no calls in a year and one red, could be axed in Sandwell.

Eleven Wolverhampton phone boxes could be scrapped, with two not used and 17 in Walsall, of which four were unused and two red boxes.

Walsall – 17 boxes in total, including two traditional red. Four of them made no calls in the past year

Sandwell – 14, one red. Two made no calls

Dudley – 18, three red. Five made no calls.

Wolverhampton – 11, no red. Two made no calls

South Staffs – 39, 12 red. Nineteen made no calls

Stafford – 52, 17 red. Seventeen made no calls

Staffordshire could see the biggest amount scrapped with 52 in Stafford, 39 in South Staffordshire and 20 in Cannock.

Of these districts, seventeen, nineteen and four of them respectively were not used in the past 12 months.

The most amount of red phone boxes could be lost in these areas, with 17 in the Stafford borough and 12 in South Staffordshire.

Stafford councillor Chris Baron, who represents the Forebridge ward, said: "We had a list sent out and there's a phone box in my ward which I've been asked by residents if they can take it out and I can quite understand why.

"People take their dogs in their and let them do their business - it's on the Wolverhampton Road.

"If they're not being used BT can't afford to have them stuck there.

"Things get damaged and people don't seem to have any respect for anything anymore and where things are being damaged you can't expect them to keep things in.

A defibrillator would be necessary but if its going to get damaged and vandalised then its not worth it.

"In the rural areas like Gnosall it might work but I think in the town centre you've got to be very careful where they put things."

BT Group say the consultation process will give communities the opportunity to keep a traditional red 'heritage' phone box and make them an asset that local people could enjoy, if they are switched off.

For just £1, communities can 'adopt' a new lease of life as something completely different.

BT spokesperson, Emma Tennant, said: "BT is committed to providing a public payphone service, but with usage declining by over 90 per cent in the last decade, we've continued to review and remove payphones which are no longer needed.

"Any removal of payphones is carried out in strict adherence to the Ofcom guidelines and, where appropriate, with the consent of local authorities.

"If the local authority does not want us to remove a phone box then we won't. More than half of our estate is loss-making, with a third making less than one call a month."

Examples of how communities have saved their phone boxes include kiosk book exchanges, defibrillator stations, or even an art gallery.

Spokesperson Emma Tennant added: "Overall the use of payphones has declined by over 90 per cent in the last decade and the need to provide payphones for use in emergency situations is diminishing all the time, with at least 98 per cent of the UK having either 3G or 4G coverage.

"This is important because as long as there is network coverage.

"It is now possible to call the emergency services, even when there is no credit or no coverage from your own mobile provider."

To adopt a phone box go to business.bt.com/phone-services/