BT wins appeal to get controversial 'street hub' installed in town centre

A plan for a BT ‘street hub’ in the town centre – which evoked the concern of the town's civic society – has been granted permission after winning an appeal against RBWM.

BT street hubs are the modern version of a payphone – and the company has been attempting to tie their installation to the removal of its old defunct phone boxes.

The telecommunications giant has been going around the country seeking permission to dig up the old booths and put these hubs in their place.

Over the past few years, several applications for these have come and gone in the Borough.

BT was refused permission to install hubs in Maidenhead High Street, King Street and in Peascod Street in Windsor, but got permission for one in Stafferton Way.

The applications include the erection of what is essentially a display board of a similar size to the phone booths, with several modern communication features.

BT has long espoused these – WiFi connectivity, 5G phone internet connection – and argue this is a much better use of the space than the old phone boxes.

Street hubs also replace phone boxes in conventional ways, including acting as an emergency phone.

BT has further extolled the extra features offered by the display screen, such as the potential to show community or emergency messages, and environmental or other regionally relevant information.

But they can also display advertisements. As such, there are concerns that street hubs act essentially as glorified advertising boards.

Those who have concerns about them – including Maidenhead Civic Society (MCS) – say that, at the very least, care must be taken where the hubs are displayed.

If they are in a historic town centre, they can detract from the ambiance of the place by firing out adverts at eye level, objectors feel.

As such, MCS objected to these two street hubs, which were set for Market Street, on the pavement outside number 4.

They argued that anything in a conservation area ‘is meant to protect and enhance the character of the area,’ and said BT should be responsible for removing its old boxes anyway.

The council shared their concerns about these two hubs (refs 24/02823 and 24/02824) and rejected the proposals on heritage, character and conservation grounds.

But BT appealed the decision, which went to the planning inspectorate for the final say (ref 3363169).

The inspector thought about the size of the street hub, compared to what’s there now, and noted that it would be ‘somewhat larger’ than the surrounding street furniture.

However, the hub would be smaller than the existing phone boxes, making a reduced visual impact.

The inspector felt that, in the context of the other street furniture (streetlamps, benches, signs etc), the hubs ‘would not be overly obvious’ or result in ‘excessive cluttering’ in the street.

“Additionally, it would not block any important views of the [conservation area] given its modest scale and the surrounding modern context,” wrote inspector John Morrison.

He also noted the ‘bustling and vibrant’ nature of this central location and activity around the shop fronts.

“The signage would assimilate well with the wider bus shelter signage and retail signs,” Mr Morrison concluded.