They want them to be listed and officially recognised as part of our national heritage.

Their campaign follows plans by BT to scrap 234 of the 862 phone boxes in Suffolk.

The firm says they are costly and rarely used, as most people have mobile phones.

When BT revealed that the red box at Wixoe, near Sudbury, had been used only once in a year, David Smith, secretary of the parish meeting, said the firm could take the phone and its cables, but had to leave the box.

He said: “We realise it is going to go as a public telephone. We just don’t want the box to go – it is a landmark, part of the village. It has stood on the corner for 50 years and we are prepared to take on looking after it.”

Another village fighting back is Depden, near Bury St Edmunds. Parish councillor Fred Gooch said: “The box was put up when I was a boy about 70 years ago. We don’t want to see it go. We use it when we give people directions.”

Villages plan to submit requests for their boxes to be given listed status.

A BT spokesman said: “The process for listing kiosks is managed by English Heritage and we abide by their decisions.”
Nearly 2,800 kiosks are currently listed.