Camden Council has written to the Government in protest at how difficult it is to block planning applications for the new “unwanted” phone boxes that are telecoms companies are erecting around the borough.

The town hall’s planning chief Cllr Danny Beales has written to the minister for housing and planning Kit Malthouse to lobby over the issue.

Cllr Beales said: “I’ve written to the government to seek national change in order to tackle this issue.

“In the modern age phone boxes have become somewhat redundant. We certainly don’t need the amount of them that we are receiving applications for.

“Camden’s residents don’t want this unwelcome street clutter, nor the anti-social behaviour issues that are often linked to unused telephone boxes.”

Cllr Beales added that applications were putting an undue burden on the council’s planning service.

In June, the Ham&High revealed that some of the new phone boxes were even being used to fuel Camden’s drug trade.