Highlands and Islands MSP Jamie Halcro Johnston has urged constituents to respond to a BT consultation on the future of payphones across the Highlands.
The Scottish Conservative MSP urged local residents to raise their views by the 15th of July on a consultation by BT to remove 110 public payphones across the Highlands.
The payphones BT considers not needed anymore include sites in Aviemore, Kingussie, Newtonmore, Dingwall, the Black Isle, Fort William, Mallaig, Lochailort and on Skye.
Mr Halcro Johnston said that, while he recognised that some of the sites saw little or no use during the year, mobile phone signals could be unreliable and inconsistent. He also warned that moves which have BT introducing digital voice services which don’t operate during power cuts into more Highland homes could mean local payphones were more important in the future.
Mr Halcro Johnston said:
“I fully recognise that most people now have mobile phones and that payphone use has decreased significantly, with some of the sites being consulted on having had no calls made in an entire year.
“However, as someone who lives in an island community myself, I know that mobile phone coverage isn’t always reliable. And of course, with the move away from traditional landlines to new digital voice services in homes, the local payphone could become more important as part of local resilience in bad weather and when power is lost.
“Too often, these decisions to remove services from our remote rural and island areas are made on financial grounds by people who have little experience of these communities. That is why we have seen so many rural services withdrawn over the years, from post offices and banks to local GPs and other health provision.
“It is important that local residents – particularly those in the most remote locations - fully consider all the circumstances in which they, or those visiting their area, might need to use their local payphone and have their say on this consultation before the 15th of July deadline”.
Residents concerned that their local payphone is still needed are asked to email BT at [email protected] to have their say and make their voice heard.
