New style 'phone boxes' would be 'clutter' within the Bognor Regis street scene

NWP Street made applications for new communications kiosks with integrated defibrillator and illuminated advertising display to be sited opposite 54 High Street, opposite 24 London Road and opposite 19 London Road.

But the council’s planning officers said the sites would be ‘within close proximity to existing public seating and street furniture, resulting in additional clutter within the street scene.’.

"The kiosk would be a visually obtrusive form of development, detracting from the existing shopfronts and would result in demonstrable harm to the character of the locality and visual amenity of the street scene,” they sad

Regarding the advertising display they said: “The proposed illuminated advertising display, by reason of its siting in the centre of the street would appear prominent, detracting from the existing shop fronts and it would appear at odds

with the wider street scene. The proposal would result in demonstrable harm to the character of the locality and visual amenity of the street scene and wider area.”

The kiosks would have been made of stainless steel with a black steel powder coated outer cladding and would have a height of 2.5m, a depth of 1.09m and a width of 0.7m.

They would have a 1.6m by 0.9m Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) for advertising which would be recessed behind a 9mm toughened laminated safety glass. A side panel with was proposed.

Internally, the kiosk would contain a telephone and a defibrillator.

Officers aid the applicant submitted a statement which included some details regarding the requirements for defibrillators, stating that the locations have been selected to support the provision of defibrillators.

“Notwithstanding this, it is noted that there are at two defibrillators (according to www.defibfinder.uk) within approximately 85m to the proposed kiosk, and four within 300m of the proposed location . As such, it has not been demonstrated that there is a requirement for another in this location,” they said.

“The applicant has stated that the locations were selected to ensure a suitable base level of coverage of telephony across Arun DC. The covering letter submitted in support of the application, said public call boxes can provide a safety net for people without access to a landline or working mobile phone. In areas with poor mobile coverage or without a phone, a public call box can be the only option for making calls, including to the emergency services.

“Notwithstanding this, further research via Ofcom shows that 5G mobile signal is likely for the majority of mobile phone providers in this location, thus poor mobile phone coverage does not exist in this location.

“It is also noted that there is phone booth near Methodist church further down High street.

To see the documents go to the Arun District Council planning portal and use the search references BR/15/25/PL, BR/12/25/A, BR/13/25/PL, BR/14/25/A and BR/16/25/A.