SHROPSHIRE Council have decided on the future of the county's payphones.

Between September and December 2019, a BT consultation proposed removal of payphones in Shropshire.

Currently there are around 350 operational payphones across the county.

Phone boxes in Whitchurch and Wem have been spared from removal, with the payphones in both towns seeing relatively high use in the last 12 months.

The phone box in Wem High Street was used 115 times in the last year, meanwhile the payphone in New Street was used 58 times.

Wem town Council strongly objected to the removal of the High Street phone box as it has a high current usage, which they say would have been higher if it was not out of order for part of last 12 months.

The town council also said there was an important social need in this area.

Another relatively well used payphone was in Whitchurch by the train station, which saw use 40 times last year.

The main objection to the removal of this phone box was the relatively isolated area, the high number of tourists coming off the train and the distance to nearest payphone.

Several rural payphones in and around Whitchurch and Wem were also spared, with the main reason being a lack of mobile phone reception in these areas.