Phone box planning trends
Phone boxes have nearly doubled their share of all planning applications in three years, with 661 in the 12 months to September 2026.
Phone box applications since 2016
Phone box applications in every 10,000 planning applications, over the 12 months to each month
How this is measuredA long fall, then a rebound
The phone box planning index peaked at 196 in the 12 months to June 2017: almost twice the 2016 share. Councils received 2,596 in 2017 and refused over two in three they decided. Counts fell to 278 in 2023, then rose to 595 in 2025.
London and the North East lead
From 2023 to 2025 phone boxes made up 20 in every 10,000 applications in the North East and 18 in London, against 8.4 across the UK. Northumberland records BT's removal notices, which most councils do not; in London, kiosks are being replaced by digital hubs.
Q3 2026 against a year earlier
Councils received 108 phone box applications in Q3 2026: 11 in every 10,000 applications, against 13 in Q3 2025, a share of all applications 17% lower than a year earlier.
Phone box applications each quarter
108 in Q3 2026, against 139 a year earlier.
Out of every 10,000 applications
As a share of every application: 11 in every 10,000 in Q3 2026, against 13 a year earlier.
Where phone box applications concentrate
By region
Phone box applications in every 10,000 planning applications, 2023 to 2025
Councils with the most
Applications since 2016
-
Westminster
London · 99 in every 10,000 598 -
Camden
London · 150 in every 10,000 441 -
Lambeth
London · 134 in every 10,000 397 -
Tower Hamlets
London · 239 in every 10,000 393 -
Islington
London · 139 in every 10,000 305 -
Manchester
North West · 99 in every 10,000 268 -
Liverpool
North West · 94 in every 10,000 258 -
Hammersmith & Fulham
London · 118 in every 10,000 253 -
Southwark
London · 107 in every 10,000 246 -
Wandsworth
London · 64 in every 10,000 234
Latest phone box applications
- Land Outside 48 Grand Parade London Removal of existing telephone boxes followed by the installation of 1 no. new communications Kiosk with integrated defibrillator and advertising display
- Land Outside Adj 286 West Green Rd London Removal of existing telephone boxes followed by the installation of 1 no. new communications Kiosk with integrated defibrillator and advertising display
- Land Outside Chisley Rd o/s Twyford House London Removal of existing telephone boxes followed by the installation of 1 no. new communications Kiosk with integrated defibrillator and advertising display
- Land Outside 1 Crouch End Hill London Removal of existing telephone boxes followed by the installation of 1 no. new communications Kiosk with integrated defibrillator and advertising display
- Public Footpath located approximately 85m East of 4 Portmore Road (Nos.13 & 14 Portmore Court Apartments), Portstewart Proposed installation of telephone kiosk on public footpath (amended site address)
- 2.5 metres west of 77 Main Street, Loughgall, Armagh Erection of an antique telephone kiosk to act as an information point for Loughgall & District Improvement Association
How often are they refused?
Of 8,686 received 2016 to 2024 and decided, 50.3% were refused, well above the 11.3% for all applications.
Refusal rate by year
Decisions, applications received 2016 to 2024
- Approved or refused8,686
- Refused50.3%
- Withdrawn before a decision801
- All applications11.3% refused
Questions
How many phone box planning applications are there in the UK?
Councils have received 11,409 since January 2016, 661 of them in the 12 months to September 2026. Their share peaked in the 12 months to June 2017.
Where are the most phone box applications made?
Westminster, Camden and Lambeth have received the most since 2016.
How often are phone box applications refused?
Of 8,686 received 2016 to 2024 and decided, 50.3% were refused, well above the 11.3% for all applications.
Why did phone box applications fall after 2017?
Counts fell from 2,596 in 2017 to 446 in 2020. The fall began before regulations in force from 25 May 2019 removed permitted development rights for new public call boxes in England, and continued after.
About Plota
Plota is the UK's most visited planning search, according to Similarweb. It shows every new planning application from every UK council, read daily from 390 planning registers, with past applications back to 2016 from more than 420 registers, including those of councils since merged. It also covers planning committee decisions, HMO licences and premises licences.
How this is measured
What needs an application
Since 25 May 2019 a new public call box in England has needed a planning application, because the permitted development right was removed.
Methodology
- What is counted: planning applications to UK councils whose description names phone boxes or a close variant of the words, by the date each council received them. These are planning applications, not completed schemes; the largest energy and infrastructure projects are consented nationally rather than by councils, so they sit outside these counts.
- How matches are checked: we read the 200 most recent phone box applications and 20 from every year since 2016 to confirm each one belongs.
- Topic counts leave out, by design, works to trees and applications that only discharge conditions, amend an earlier permission or approve reserved matters, which follow a scheme already counted. Everything else is counted.
- A share is the number out of every 10,000 applications over the previous 12 months. Each topic is a number in every 10,000 planning applications, so trends compare when overall planning activity changes; the share still moves when either the topic's count or the total does. The phone box planning index sets the 2016 share at 100, so 200 means twice as common as in 2016.
- Source: the planning registers of every UK council, January 2016 to September 2026, read on 9 November 2026.
- Planning is seasonal, so each quarter is compared with the same quarter a year earlier.
- Year on year: each topic's and theme's share of all applications in Q3 2026, against Q3 2025, at every council we hold. A share is the number in every 10,000 applications. Shares compare across councils and years; raw counts do not.
- Left out of the topic shares: Birmingham's applications from June to September 2026: a validation backlog at the council since June 2026: of 685 reference numbers it issued in September, its register lists 288. The same months a year earlier are left out too, so every comparison covers the same councils.
- Refusals: applications received 2016 to 2024 and decided, at councils whose published decisions pass our checks against their decision notices. Approvals and refusals count; withdrawals do not. "All applications" means every decision of that kind at the same councils over the same years. Applications received from 2025 are added once most are decided.
- Download the data (CSV): every topic and theme, each quarter since 2016.
Sources
- SI 2019/907, in force 25 May 2019, removed the permitted development right to install, alter or replace a public call box in England and withdrew deemed consent to advertise on the glazed surface of a telephone kiosk. legislation.gov.uk