THE proposed BT street hubs in Winchester have been attacked by city councillors as "hideous and horrendous".

BT wants five new signs to replace phone boxes and as well as having device charging, free emergency calls and air quality monitoring, they will have two adverts on each hub.

The company has applied for planning permission for the structures on Jewry Street, High Street and St George's Street.

But city councillors on the town forum have attacked the proposal.

READ MORE HERE: Concern over new BT street hubs

Cllr Kelsie Learney said the BT hubs were "ugly and unnecessary" and would obstruct people with limited sight. "They are going to be horrendous blots on the townscape," she said.

Branding them as "hideous", Cllr Charles Radcliffe said BT could use smaller units but these were effectively billboards to make money for the company.

Cllr Chris Westwood said that as a member of the planning committee that would probably decide the BT application he could not directly comment on the plans. But as chairman of the Winchester walking strategy group he was concerned by the amount of street clutter in the city centre.

The forum heard that A-boards, whereby businesses on side streets promote themselves on the High Street are the responsibility of the highways authority which is Hampshire County Council.

Cllr Chris Edwards said: "It seems there has been a mushrooming of A-boards as businesses compete for people's pounds and we need to make sure it is not taken advantage of."

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Concerns about telecommunications street furniture is nothing new. Back in the late 1980s the then-new Mercury phone boxes on the High Street were attacked in similar terms. They were removed in the 1990s as use was poor with people starting to have mobile phones.

Former city councillor Ian Tait, in the town forum public participation session, said he had been raising the issue of street signs for 25 years since the Minstrels cafe tried to use them on the High Street to advertise its business on a side street.