§ 9. Mr. Harold Daviesasked the Postmaster-General how many telephone kiosks are to be allocated to the Leek and Cheadle rural areas in the coming year.
§ Mr. Wilfred PalingFourteen telephone kiosks have been allocated to the rural areas of Staffordshire. Location of the individual kiosks will be fixed in consultation with the Staffordshire Branch of the Rural District Councils' Association when it has assessed the relative merits of the various applications within the county.
§ Mr. DaviesWhile thanking my right hon. Friend for that answer, may I ask him if I am to understand from it that 14 are allotted to the whole of the county of Staffordshire? Secondly, on what formula does my right hon. Friend allocate kiosks to the rural areas?
§ Mr. PalingWe make arrangements for the allocation of these kiosks with the rural authorities' association and the national associations. We leave it to them. We have so many to allocate each year and they allocate them in the best way possible.
10. Mr. Watkinsasked the Postmaster-General the quotas of telephone kiosks 2450 which are to be provided in the rural areas in each county in Wales; how are applications for kiosks to be dealt with; and upon what date will this new plan commence.
§ Mr. Wilfred PalingThe quotas of telephone kiosks allotted to the rural areas of each county in Wales are: Anglesey, 6; Caernarvon, 12; Denbigh, 16; Flint, 5; Merioneth, 13; Montgomery, 16; Brecknock, 12; Cardigan, 16; Carmarthen, 21; Glamorgan, 10; Monmouth, 9; Pembroke, 13; Radnor, 10.
Under the new plan for the provision of rural kiosks, applications are made to rural district councils, and the county branches of the Rural District Councils' Association recommend to the Post Office the order in which the kiosks should be installed in each county. It is hoped that work on the kiosks approved under the new plan will commence in the autumn, but in the meantime work already started on any kiosks agreed to under the previous scheme is being completed.