A 13-YEAR-OLD boy is fighting to save a piece of heritage in his village – a red telephone box.

Jack Martin, who lives in Tisbury, wrote to the Journal to appeal for help to save the phone box outside his house, which has fallen into a state of disrepair.

The box, which is no longer used, has peeling paint and broken windows, and telephone company BT decided it is no longer viable to keep it.

But the villagers don’t want to see it go and would like to turn it into a community notice board.

“Since red telephone boxes are a dying breed, we want to keep ours,” said Jack. “We want the phone box to be disconnected so the phone cannot be used anymore, and we would then, as a community, paint it and repair it so it would look really good.”

After getting in touch with BT, the residents were told the parish council could buy the box for £1, and subsequently launched a petition to turn it into a community notice board.

However the council is worried the volunteers will lose interest and the burden will lie with them and has refused to help.

“Therefore any day now the box might be knocked down and taken away forever,” said Jack.

Parish council chairman George Flower said councillors discussed the issue at length, and that it was very sad the box was going.

“We all know how volunteers are very enthusiastic to start off with, but enthusiasm tends to wane and he who then owns it is left with an eyesore,” he said.

“It would then be putting an unfair burden on the parish council. We feel we could not justify it seeing as there is another one in Newtown.”

A BT spokesman confirmed local authorities can buy the telephone boxes for a £1, but said individuals and groups of residents could not.