PLANS to axe more than 30 public phone boxes across the New Forest have been put forward by BT.

But the district council has launched a campaign to save almost a third of the kiosks, including one near the village hall at Damerham and two others serving rural parts of the Ringwood area.

Council bosses say the removal of the call boxes in Ringwood and Damerham would be “disadvantageous” to the local community and are calling for them to be retained.

BT wants to remove a total of 34 phone boxes in the Forest, including seven in the New Forest National Park.

The other 27 are within the area served by the council, including one at the junction of Butlers Lane and Gorley Road.

Civic chiefs are calling for the kiosk to be kept, describing it as "well positioned and visible" as well as being close to shops and social housing.

They are also demanding the retention of the box near Damerham village hall, citing the lack of adequate mobile phone coverage in the area.

The council's objections says: "The level of usage indicates it is of some value to the local community and the site is close to social housing. The site is on a bus stop used by the school bus and it should be available for use by students in an emergency. In addition, the coverage in this area is patchy.”

Although the number of calls was “relatively modest” the “importance of the calls needs to be given "significant weighting”.

However, the council says it has no objection to the removal of the phone box at the junction of Christchurch Road and Hightown Road or the ones at in Rockford, Pound Lane in Burley and near the Tree House Hotel.

The objections lodged by NFDC will be registered with the secretary of state for the Department of Trade and Industry, and BT.

BT has a scheme where individuals or community groups, including parish and town councils, can “adopt” a phone box for £1.