AFTER an underwhelming response to its request for local community groups to bid to ‘take over’ two local decommissioned red telephone boxes, Melksham Town Council is considering using them for themselves as information “outposts”.
The council’s recent request for bids attracted one response from Wiltshire Museum, proposing that they temporarily use one of the phone boxes to display photos, paintings, maps and images of artefacts connected with Melksham.
The museum has proposed using a phone box for around three weeks and the council has welcomed the bid, agreeing at a meeting this month of the town council’s asset management and amenities committee, to move forward with the idea.
However, the council had hoped to receive more interest about taking over the phone boxes.
Determined to find a use for the phone boxes – located on Spa Road, opposite Giffords Surgery, and Littlejohn Avenue, next to the Pig and Whistle pub – the council has asked their business administration apprentice to continue the search for local groups to use them, but to also explore the viability of the town council using them instead.
“There is a whole host of things that we do, where we are wanting to communicate with the public; to get people understanding what’s happening; and tell them what’s going on,” said mayor cllr Jon Hubbard who suggested the idea, highlighting that the phone boxes are both in “the heart of the community” and could be a useful tool to connect with local residents in those areas.
The town council also hopes to use the phone boxes as local Wi-Fi hotspots, which they think could open up opportunities for more “technologically-advanced” displays.
