SOME residents have seen red over the cost of painting an old telephone box outside the Bovey Tracey Town Hall.

The town council paid £600 for the work which took three days to complete and the mayor, Cllr Ulli Arnold, admitted the council had been shocked at the cost, although it was an intricate job.

But clerk Mark Wells told Monday’s council meeting that the telephone box was adopted by the council sometime ago with the intention of relocating it to the Bovey Tracey Heritage Centre.

Unfortunately there were fears that moving it would cause it to crack.

Mr Wells explained that because the telephone box was listed as of historic interest, the council had to look after it. Most of the £600 had come from grant funding.

‘Competitive tender quotations for the work were sought but there were only three responses varying between £600 and £700,’ he said.

During the public participation, John Northcott said that while the issue of painting the phone box was relatively unimportant it was the lack of concern of the council in the way public money was being spent.

‘Are you saying the job took three days? I am sure there are many painters in the town who would have done it for considerably less than that,’ said Mr Northcott.

Another resident showed councillors the latest county council brochure on cycle ways which included Bovey Tracey, and he called for more cycle racks in the town.

‘We raised money for painting that telephone box and yet we could not get £200 for cycle racks,’ he stated.

Cllr Avril Kerswell said to clarify, she was the one who recommended that the telephone box was spruced up and painted.

‘It is an asset to Bovey Tracey. I think we should look after our assets which compliment the town,’ she added.