VOTE: £300 spent on saving Chidham's phonebox

It's a decision which has been met with mixed reactions from the community.

The K6 phone box in Chidham Lane, Chidham was out of action for a large part of last year and was used three times, but it hasn't stopped the council wanting to keep it in case of emergencies and for children who might want to call the Childline.

The council had the option of adopting it for 1 which would mean all the equipment was taken out and they would be left with only the shell.

Scrap or pay

The second option was to have it scrapped completely, or pay 300 a year to BT for it to be kept as it is.

Chairman of the Hambrook and District Residents' Association Andy Collins said he felt it was a waste of money.

"It's quite a lot of money, and there are other things in the village that the money could be spent on or put towards," he said.

"They could have bought it for 1 and just kept it painted as an old phone box, as an object to make the village look pretty.

"But to keep it going as a phone box is a waste of money."

Worth keeping

Chidham and Hambrook Parish Council vice-chairman Steve Clark was in favour of keeping the phone box.

He said: "Their report said it was only used three times last year, we know it was out of service a lot of last year.

"The other thought is it has been used and we do not know who used it, it could have been someone phoning Childline, or in an emergency.

"We felt it was worth keeping."

Expensive farce

Chief executive at the Taxpayers' Alliance Matthew Elliott said: "This phone box has turned into an expensive farce.

"If taxpayers neither want nor are using it, it should be scrapped.

"In this age of mobile communications, it may have seen like a quaint idea at the time, but tough decisions lie ahead when it comes to spending cuts versus council tax increases, and every possible saving must be made to lighten the financial burden on ordinary people at this difficult time."

Chidham and Hambrook parish council chairman Mike Penny said: "We discussed all of the options, they weren't keen to see it taken away or to buy it, the third option to pay so much a year proved to be the most popular way forward.

"The feeling with people in the area was it's part of the village and should remain so."

Have your say

Do you think Chidham Parish Council should have spent 300 on buying the village's red phone box from BT?

Vote yes or no in the panel to the right of the screen.

What do you think? Send a letter to [email protected] or leave a comment below.

Click here to go back to Chichester news

Click here to go back to Bognor Regis news

Click here to go back to Midhurst and Petworth news

To tell us where in the world you are reading this story click here to add yourself to our readers' map.