Calstock Parish Council is asking for people’s views on the future use of the telephone box on the Quayside which is looking rather neglected.

This follows the proposal from a local group which has suggested repurposing the telephone box into a community asset for the village.

The Calstock in Bloom, which won a Royal Horticultural Society Gold Award last year, propose to use it as an honesty library and are prepared to look after it.

The parish council could adopt the phone box for a nominal fee. British Telecom (BT) would then disconnect the service and repaint it before handing it over. BT would also continue to pay for the electricity to power the internal light.

It is the only working public phone box in the whole parish and has remained operational because of the historic poor mobile phone signal in lower Calstock. However, in the last year there have been only six calls - five to the speaking clock and one to an 0800 number. On this basis, the parish council feels that it would be better if it became a community asset.

However, before the parish council makes a decision it is seeking the views of the community on whether to keep it as a working phone box or whether to repurpose it as a community asset.

Parish councillor for the Calstock ward, Alastair Tinto, has posted a poll on the Calstock Community Forum on Facebook asking people to indicate their preferred option.

For further information contact: [email protected] or 07727 644310

Comments or suggestions can also be emailed to [email protected].