MORE than 60 telephone kiosks have been pencilled in for the axe across South Lakeland in a new round of removals by British Telecom.

Following a string of highly controversial phone box removals announced in January 2003, the company has now announced it wants to take out a further 64.

They are listed to go at places like Kendal, Sedbergh, Ambleside, Coniston, Windermere, and Grange, as well as outlying villages such as Selside, Staveley, Grasmere, Hawkshead, Haverthwaite and Winster.

Of Cumbria's 1,097 telephone boxes, BT plans to remove 255, with a total of 55 earmarked for removal from the Eden area and seven from Furness.

BT insists it will widely consult before removing the boxes but the news has not been greeted well by civic leaders.

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Coun Tony Rothwell, the mayor of Kendal, said: "I am very sceptical. BT were very poor at consulting last time, it went on for ages, and our town clerk was writing letters back and forth because BT wasn't being clear about its criteria for closure.

"A lot of these rural phone boxes in South Lakeland probably don't make money but they are essential to the area they are placed in.

"Not everybody has a mobile phone and not everybody wants one so it's the most vulnerable members of the community affected again, the elderly and the young."

The news follows on from the announcement that 70 kiosks had been identified for closure last year, which sparked a wave of protests and led to many being saved.

As before, British Telecom has said it is prepared to retain important phone boxes that are making a loss including 35 in South Lakeland that are not making any money.

If all the closures across the district go-ahead, South Lakeland will be left with 193 from its current total of 257.

BT has pledged it would consult with district, parish, town and county councils.

But the company has been criticised in the past for consulting and then going ahead with what it originally intended.

Earlier this year, Kirkby Lonsdale Parish Council criticised the sudden removal of a lone kiosk on the A65 that they said was important for those who may need to make a telephone call in an emergency, such as a car accident.

Paul Hendron, director of BT Payphones, said: "We recognise that people have concerns about our plans to reduce the number of payphones but I would like to reassure them that BT is still committed to the service, particularly for the communities who need us most. We will manage changes sensitively through extensive consultation with local representatives."

He explained that the company is not allowed to subsidise its pay phone business so "getting the balance right between commercial pressures and providing a public service is vital."

BT said the increase in mobile phone ownership had led to a "complete culture change" in communication, with calls made from BT Payphones halving in the last three years. It said revenue from phone boxes also dropped by 40 per cent and now only one per cent of homes do not have a fixed line phone or mobile.

Terry Belshaw, crime prevention officer with Kendal Police, said: "Not everyone has a mobile phone, and certainly in some of these areas you won't get reception on your mobile phone.

"For everybody in these cut-off, outlying areas, I would hope there is a retained facility for the public to get in touch with us in the case of an emergency."