It is now more than four years since the iconic 'type K6' telephone kiosk disappeared from the corner of Grange Lane and Belle Vale Road. As reported in previous Newsletters, no-one was aware of BT's intention to remove it until it was too late. We contacted Ofcom - who issue guidelines regarding community consultation on such matters - but they simply referred us to Liverpool City Council. We contacted the Council, but they told us that they had no prior knowledge of BT's intentions. We then returned to Ofcom, and eventually were given an email address for BT themselves. (As a communications organisation, BT make it remarkably difficult for individuals to get in touch with them!).

This is the reply we have now received. It came - mysteriously - from an individual whose job title is "Team Member, Bangor, Voice Services/Payphones/StreetHub/Welsh Helpdesk":

"I can see from our records that we followed the OFCOM ruling on removals on the kiosk it was posted on 7th September 2016 with an intent to removal notice and the 90 days was followed and we had a nil response from the council (details below) which means we had no objection and the kiosks on the list were all removed.

Chief Planning Officer, Liverpool City Council, Planning Department, Municipal Building, Dale Street, Liverpool L2 2DH

Liverpool Council did not respond to our consultation. These are treated as approvals to remove.

Additionally a notice was posted on 7th September 2016 advising the public of our intentions to remove the kiosk and to contact the council with any comments.

Hope this helps you understand that the kiosk was removed as per OFCOM's agreed terms."

We now have to decide whether to take this matter further. The defibrillator which we had hoped might be housed in the redundant kiosk has, of course, now been fixed to the wall alongside the pharmacy in Grange Lane. Any comments/suggestions/advice will be very welcome.