New twist in saga of old phone kiosk

The long-running saga over the future of Saddleworth’s red phone boxes has taken a bizarre new twist.

The traditional kiosk at the The Star Inn junction of Huddersfield Road-Doctor Lane, Scouthead, was flattened in a crash last year. Since then, Oldham councillor and the town’s heritage champion, Mike Buckley, has been fighting for its restoration.

BT ran a 90-day consultation to see if the kiosk could be permanently removed because of its low usage but Councillor Buckley, who also sits on Saddleworth Parish Council, demanded the box be reinstated as a functioning payphone service.

Now the communications giant has asked for a meeting with the councillor and borough conservation officer to discuss the plan but says the payphone service would be rehoused in a modern box.

But the councillor argues that the area is a conservation zone and it would be more appropriate to begin the service again from the familiar old red kiosk.

“It would be far more in keeping with the general historic feel and appeal to the area,” he said. “However, I welcome BT’s offer to have the meeting.”

But he said there were a number of other pertinent issues surrounding the future and maintenance of other red kiosks in Greenfield, Delph and Diggle.

He said: “The poor state of maintenance of the existing kiosks is a real concern. It does not auger well for a partnership with the council in which BT maintains the kiosks in working order in exchange for the council making an annual monetary payment.”

Meanwhile, Saddleworth Parish Council is to consider the future of some boxes at its next full meeting after BT earmarked several for sale for a nominal fee if the community took over maintenance.

Councillor Buckley said: “I have registered my dissatisfaction in the way BT announced its intention to remove these phones. To issue an announcement in the holiday month of August and limit this to 42 days is totally unreasonable.

“The parish council has been successful in having this extended to November, allowing time for all alternative options to be explored and considered.

“The parish council is also looking at the future of the kiosks BT wishes to abandon and are seeking information from other parts of the country where new uses have been found for the discontinued phone boxes.”

A Scouthead local, who did not want to be named, said: “It’s a farcical situation. The box was flattened in a crash, removed and the site tarred over. Goodness knows what is going on.”