The plan by BT has caused concern among parish council’s and Mr Goodwill is worried areas without a mobile phone signal could be left without a public call box in the event of an emergency.

A spokesman for BT confirmed there were 21 boxes within the borough of Scarborough, which includes Whitby.

Mr Goodwill said: “Even though fewer people are using telephone boxes, they are still an important facility for people who may not have a phone in their home and live in an area without a mobile signal.”

He recalled a road accident near his home in Ryedale where a man was unable to summon an ambulance because there was no mobile signal and had to find a landline.

“I can understand BT’s decision in terms of economies but it is also a matter of concern among many people.”

BT can remove a payphone without consultation if another payphone is situated within 400m.

The spokesman said: “Where there is not another phone within that distance BT contacts the unitary authority, informing them which boxes we are looking to rationalise.

“There will then be a period of 90 days during which the authority will run the consultation process and can invite opinion from various bodies.

“BT cannot remove any of these phones without local authority consent but the authority will need to show there is a clear social need to retain the kiosk.”

BT says payphone usage has halved in the last two years and this means 60% of the public payphones base is unprofitable.

Calls are still declining at 20% year on year and 10% of phones make less than one call a month.

The spokesman said: “We are committed to meeting our obligation to provide a public payphone service, but the demand there once was just isn’t there any more and usage has halved in the last two years.

“Where we no longer believe a kiosk is needed then we seek to remove it.

“This has been the case for a number of years because of the continuing decline in payphone usage.

“In this case, we have written to the local authorities to obtain consent to remove 48 kiosks but where a clear social need is proved a kiosk won’t be removed.”

Areas which could lose their boxes include Fylingdales, Aislaby, Littlebeck, Raw, East and West Barnby, Grosmont, Fryup and Lealholm.