Iconic red telephone box adopted by Powys border town council

An iconic red telephone box in Kington has been adopted by the town council.

Kington Town Council agreed at a previous meeting that it would like to adopt the redundant phone box on Church Street and refurbish and repurpose it.

The council received and signed a contract for the phone box at a cost of £1 and members also previously agreed to set aside £500 for refurbishment.

Town clerk Liz Kelso told members BT had sent the contract to transfer ownership.

She said the contract restricts use of the phone box to community and charitable purposes and has defined those purposes to exclude any promotion of any business, products or services.

She said the council will now have responsibility for the phone box and will have to inspect it regularly and ensure it is only used for charity or community purposes.

As the telephone box is a listed building and enquiries have been made of Herefordshire Council planning department to see if planning permission would be needed for any refurbishment or change of use.

Kington Chamber of Trade said it has some ideas for what the phone box can be used for and they will liaise with the town council on it.

Since 2008, almost 4,000 communities and charitable bodies have adopted more than 5,800 iconic red kiosks and around 800 of the more modern glass boxes.

People have come up fantastic ideas on how to repurpose them from housing defibrillator to art exhibitions and even a pub.

Members signed the contract and noted the information