SIR - Standing on the corner of the junction between Manstone Lane and Arcot Road, sandwiched between an equally battered bus shelter and a fortunately reasonably maintained public toilet, there stands the shattered remains of a classic cast iron red telephone kiosk designed by Giles Gilbert Scott, the famous architect.
The windows have mostly been smashed, many of the glazing bars wrenched out and a broken lead, minus handset, dangles forlornly down by its useless coin box.
I have no idea when this kiosk was last functional, but, at present, it is the victim of calculated neglect by its owners and the regular target of vandals.
It would appear that the local authorities have no interest in making BT bring this public facility back into service and, no doubt, await its removal with indifference.
Readers might reflect that such a situation is not without precedent in Sidmouth at present, although the work of the locally renowned architect William Sampson now being systematically destroyed down on the seafront has much greater significance.
Perhaps this derelict phone kiosk should be retained as a small, but telling, monument to the activities cynical property speculators and the EDDC’s unwillingness or inability to stem the tide of inappropriate development!
Bob Warren
Green Mount, Sidmouth
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