ICONIC red telephone boxes could start to disappear from villages and towns as they are not being used.

A total of 60 public payphones - including classic red boxes - have been earmarked for removal from picturesque Cotswold villages such as Bourton-on-the-Water, Church Westcote and towns like Moreton-in-Marsh.

BT, which owns the payphones, has launched a consultation with councils and communities across the district, offering the chance to adopt a traditional red box.

Bourton is home to two red phone boxes marked for removal, in Melville and Rye Crescent, both of which have not been used for a year.

The parish council says it has given BT its "blessing" to remove both boxes, as it does not have a use for them.

Bryan Sumner, acting chair of Bourton Parish Council, said: "We do not really have a use for them and it would be another burden to ask the council to maintain them, if we decided to adopt them. All the services they might provide are adequately provided in the village."

However, Councillor Sumner said it was "sad" to see the classic British red phone boxes diminishing nationwide.

"It is sad to see what is an iconic thing disappear from English villages but it is all time and money to maintain something that is no longer needed for the purpose that was originally intended.

"If there is anybody who comes forward and wants to look after them we might consider it."

Councillor Mike Tysoe, mayor of Chipping Norton, said the town council had already taken over two or three BT telephone boxes, housing defibrillators in them.

"The red phone boxes are remarkably iconic," he said. "It is the march of time, it is technology and the world moving on. I do not think my grandchildren would have any idea of how to use a telephone box."

Meanwhile, Councillor Izzie Hazelwood, chair of Stretton-on-Fosse Parish Council, said the telephone box in the village earmarked for removal is a yellow booth, which is rarely used.

"If it had been a red one I'm sure we would have kept it and done something with it," she said. "I suspect that the village won't be terribly upset and 99 per cent won't even know it has gone."

A spokesman for BT said: "BT is committed to providing a public payphone service, but with usage declining by over 90 per cent in the last decade, we’ve continued to review and remove payphones which are no longer needed.

"Any removal of payphones is carried out in strict adherence to the Ofcom guidelines and, where appropriate, with the consent of local authorities.

"Overall, more than half of our estate is loss-making, with a third making less than one call a month."

To comment on the proposed removals, email Cotswold District Council at leisureandcommunities@cotswold.gov.uk by Friday, December 16.

All feedback will be passed on to BT as part of the consultation. The BT consultation will close on 7 January 2017.

For more information about adopting a telephone box, visit business.bt.com/phone-services/payphone-services/adopt-a-kiosk/