Payphones in Dundee High Street will be replaced with a ‘digital street hub’ as phone boxes fall out of fashion.
Dundee City Council planners initially refused BT Group’s proposal for the hub, which includes two 75 inch digital advertising screens.
Head of planning Gregor Hamilton said the advert boards would be out of character with the city’s central conservation area.
But the Scottish Government’s Planning and Environmental Appeals Division (DPEA) overturned the council’s decision.
The changing High Street
Here is a before and after view of how the High Street will look:
Two phone boxes will be removed to make way for the hub.
In addition to advertising, the hub will provide wifi, charging points, free calls and public information.
In his submission on behalf of BT, Martin Brown from Harlequin Group said: “It is contended that the modern city and its inhabitants and visitors expect high level mobile communications network technology, whether this be wifi or mobile services networks.”
He also highlighted the fact there were already illuminated advertisements in the city centre.
BT will remove a further two phone boxes nearby with the aim of “decluttering” the street.
Scottish Government reporter Trevor Croft described the phone boxes outside Patisserie Valerie as “somewhat disfigured with fly posting and graffiti”.
Street furniture was “very much part of the appearance and character of the conservation area”.
He added: “I do not believe the proposed development would provide any further detraction.”
Another hub on the way?
A Scottish Government reporter is considering a further BT appeal for a hub outside Primark.
Dundee planners threw out the proposal for similar reasons to the one outside Patisserie Valerie.
Here is how the hub would change the street:
Philip McLean, the reporter appointed to deal with the case, was set to carry out a site visit.
Phone boxes are being phased out as a result of people using mainly mobile phones.
According to Ofcom, 96% of adults in the UK own a mobile.
BT is in the process of decommissioning payphones deemed surplus to requirements.
But Ofcom says around 5,000 of the UK’s phone boxes should be protected.
Almost 150,000 calls were made to emergency services from phone boxes in the year to May 2020.
Conversation