Communication hubs set to be rolled out in Preston

Four new ‘communication hubs’ are set to be rolled out in and around Preston city centre.

As well as functioning as a traditional phone box, the facilities will feature an interactive information screen, digital advertising display and lifesaving defibrillator equipment.

Preston City Council has given the go-ahead to the units at locations on Friargate North, Church Street, Stanley Street and North Road.

However, New World Payphones – the firm behind the hubs – was refused permission to install one close to the junction of Fishergate and Corporation Street, because of the cluttering effect it was deemed likely to have on the thoroughfare.

The company says the open-plan kiosks – 1.6 metres high and 0.9 metres wide –  have been designed to capture some recognisable elements of the historic red call boxes that dominated Britain’s streets for decades, coupled with a “sleek” look that “integrates seamlessly into the streetscape”.

Documents lodged with the city council as part of the planning application for the units state that 2.68 million people in the UK do not own a mobile phone, creating a “pressing” need for continued access to public phones. 

The hubs will offer free calls to emergency services and charities – and will accept cards to cover the cost of paid-for calls.

The touchscreens will provide ”essential information”, including mapping features, showing details of local points of interest – while directions will be transferable to users’ mobile phones via a QR code.

Free access will be provided to the digital display on the rear of the hubs for the council and not-for-profit organisations to share public service announcements and any emergency alerts.   Otherwise, when in advertising mode, the messaging is expected to change every 10 seconds.

The company says it will carry out fortnightly cleaning of its facilities.

The four approved sites for the communication hubs are:

***Church Street, close to the Slug and Lettice;

***Friargate North, near the junction with Union Street;

***Stanley Street (A6), near Aldi;

***North Road, close to the American Golf Store.

The city council considered each of the locations suitable for the new facilities, but rejected a bid to place one of the kiosks close to the front entrance to the Fishergate Shopping Centre.

A report outlining the reasons for the refusal stated that the hub would be “noticeably larger in scale and brighter in illumination” than any advertising already sited along that stretch of the street.

It noted efforts to reduce “street clutter” on Fishergate in recent years and concluded that the proposed kiosk – of which a similar one has been approved nearby – would be at odds with that.

Earlier this year, the Planning Inspectorate overturned a decision by the authority to refuse permission for BT ‘street hubs’ – larger than those proposed by New World Payphones – on Friargate and New Hall Lane. because of concern over cluttering at the proposed locations.