Four BT ‘street hubs’ providing free Wi-Fi and phone calls could be installed across Scarborough if plans are approved.
The “free to use, fully accessible community assets” are proposed for installation in two locations on Foreshore Road, as well as Westborough and Newborough.
The hubs, which can carry commercial advertising as well as community notices and police alerts, provide encrypted Wi-Fi and free phone calls, and can also monitor air quality and traffic.
According to plans by BT, the street hubs are smaller than “comparable street furniture”, and their installation facilitates and funds the removal of up to two existing BT payphone kiosks, “giving back valuable pavement space for each installation”.
At a meeting of Scarborough Town Council on Wednesday, December 17, members backed the proposals, stating that the hubs would “brighten up the street scene”.
More than 960 street hub units are in use across the UK, and each unit offers 876 hours of free advertising to local councils per year.
However, concerns have been raised by North Yorkshire Police’s designing out crime officer, who said that “this type of installation has caused antisocial behaviour issues in other parts of the country”.
The officer added that “the free call to mobiles service has been used to facilitate drug dealing”, but noted that BT has produced a “comprehensive antisocial behaviour management plan, which includes an algorithm to identify “repeated antisocial number use so that number can be blocked”.
NYP stated that it supported the proposal and BT said the hubs, which use 100 per cent renewable carbon-free energy, would be inspected weekly and cleaned at least every two weeks.
The free-standing hubs would have HD display screens on two sides, displaying content at 10-second intervals, including “the commercial content that funds the service as well as a wide range of local community and council content”.
Every street hub includes a fully accessible interactive tablet that provides a series of icons that give users access to local council services, one-touch connection to four national charities for support, local weather information, and FAQs and instructions.
According to BT, the free calls aren’t time-limited, but “almost all have lasted no more than a few minutes as people use them to call friends, family, local services, taxis, and unlike payphones, street hubs do not include or need a handset, nor accept incoming calls.”
The application concluded: “Street hubs are free to use, fully accessible community assets connecting and improving local streets in urban areas. At no cost to taxpayers or end users, street hubs provide communities with an unprecedented suite of essential urban tools.”
North Yorkshire Council has not set a date for deciding on the proposals.
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