Eight BT street hubs which offer free calls, phone charging and wifi services have all been rejected by a Welsh council over concerns they will be unsightly. BT applied to Newport City Council for permission to site its hubs - which could be described as modern-day telephone boxes - at eight locations in Newport in September to replace traditional phone boxes.
The hubs would have been situated near to the city centre at Granville Street, Bridge Street, Usk Way and Commercial Street. The hubs, which BT says will create smarter and safer public spaces, are three metres tall, have 75-inch touch screens, and are powered by renewable carbon-free energy.
Some of the proposals drew objections. Newport Now Business Improvement District (BID) opposed the hubs planned for 81 Bridge Street and outside the Westgate buildings at Commercial Street over concerns the hub would attract anti-social behaviour. “These street hubs become a magnet for anti-social behaviour, in particular drug dealing,” the BID group said.
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“Evidence from our BID colleagues in Cardiff and Swansea shows significant increases in anti-social behaviour following the installation of street hubs. It is imperative for the businesses of the city centre that installations that could increase anti-social behaviour do not happen.”
BT shared its own “anti-social behaviour masterplan” with Newport council in the hope it would persuade them to approve the hubs. In its plan BT said its hubs contribute to helping “give entire communities access to an unprecedented suite of essential services”.
In its plan to prevent misuse of its services and anti-social behaviour, BT said: “A small number of locations drew attention to local drug issues, with those involved misusing free call services. Following this we invested significantly in developing call restriction capabilities.
“These were first used to prevent calls to mobiles on select Street Hubs in problem areas – identified with the help of police and council community safety teams. The automatic recognition of possible misuse and blocking of identified numbers is based on a proprietary algorithm and technical process developed in consultation with the police and councils from across the UK.
“These consider a range of factors, including but not limited to the frequency of attempted and connected calls, the length and distribution of such calls, and insights provided by relevant stakeholders. Once numbers are identified, their call data is continuously assessed and our algorithm always applied. When a blocked number is flagged by the algorithm this restriction is permanent. In some cases, on request, we may restrict numbers over a set period.”
There are also concerns that the applicant did not provide accurate tree information for each hub, according to the head of environment and public protection at the council. “Full tree information…should be submitted via a bonafide tree consultant together with a comprehensive arboricultural method statement to evidence how the structure is to be installed without detriment to the trees,” they said.
The planning officer’s reports said that while the hubs will be prominent within the street scene, they are slender in build and would not represent an overbearing feature.
However, all eight applications have now been rejected, all due to concerns over the impact on visual amenity as well as insufficient tree information. The council also said some of the hubs would “fail to preserve or enhance the character or appearance of the conservation area”.
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