Bristol City Council Reject WiFi Kiosks

Bristol City Council rejects BT’s proposal to replace old telephone boxes with WiFi kiosks.

13:57 03 June 2018

BT’s proposal to build WiFi kiosks at key locations in Bristol City has been rejected by the city council, citing street robbery, drug dealing and hoax 999 calls as some of the reasons. Other reasons for the rejection included in the damning planning report include theft, criminal damage and problems with anti-social behaviour.

 

Bristol’s Crime Prevention Unit, which was consulted in the application process, said that they were concerned that the kiosks would encourage more people to use their high value mobile phones more openly in public as well as allow offenders to hide in plain sight in the area by claiming that they are using the WiFi facility.

 

Officers in London Borough of Tower Hamlet also said that the kiosks may be used to buy or sell illegal drugs. They said: “Our local CCTV operatives at Tower Hamlets have images showing groups of drug users forming an orderly queue to use the phone on these booths to order drugs using the free 30 second call that is provided.”

 

Bristol City Council’s rejection of BT’s project has been celebrated by anti-advertising campaigners Adblock Bristol. They said: “We’re delighted to say that Bristol City Council have rejected the proposals for 34 new digital advertising screens on our streets.

 

“Thank you Bristol City Council, and big thank you to everyone who objected to the proposals – your voices will have helped the council step up and say that Bristol doesn’t want these InLink units here.

 

“We don’t want them because of the unsightly and dangerous advertising screens, but it turns out there’s lots of other things to be concerned about too,” they added.