TWO local red telephone boxes that have been adopted by the town council, will be tidied up in preparation for use for community projects.
Plans for the two telephone boxes – one on Spa Road, opposite Giffords Surgery, and the other on Littlejohn Avenue, next to the Pig and Whistle pub – have yet to be confirmed, but councillors discussed potential ideas at a meeting last month.
Cllr Jon Hubbard suggested that the Spa Road phone box could be an “exciting opportunity” to create an “information hub” for young people, highlighting that the location of the phone box is on a well used route to Melksham Oak Community School.
Cllr Hubbard also suggested that the phone box could be linked to the Canberra Centre’s wifi, creating a mobile internet “hotspot”.
The idea was praised as “brilliant” by cllr Terri Welch, whilst cllr Adrienne Westbrook suggested that as the phone box is also near the children’s centre, the information on offer could cover topics relevant to “pregnancy through to older teens”.
For ideas on how to use the Littlejohn Avenue phone box, cllr Vanessa Fiorelli suggested consulting nearby residents for ideas, also adding that it could be used as a flower display, library, or to house a defibrillator.
At the meeting, councillors resolved to give the phone boxes a lick of paint to tidy them up and to delegate the project to Town Hall staff to explore how the phone boxes will be used.
