Going back to pouch boxes

[WalkerX]

Still loads of grey metal boxes on most walks, rusting away.

[priority102]

I wonder how much stuff is still inside old pouch boxes!

[yellowbelly]

Nobody knows where the keys are for ours.

[dougfunny892]

Could use post boxes, there's nothing in them.

[Brain Fury]

They’ve all been removed years ago

No not here. They paid a bomb for planning permission then were told they needed permission to remove them now no longer needed so have left em to rust and rot here.

That's certainly true in some areas. The cost of putting them in was not planning permission as such, it was getting a survey so show what other pipes and cables were under or near the proposed site. I'm not sure that the 'delivery methods' project gave much if any thought to what would happen to redundant pouch boxes. Some councils then wanted to start charging 'rent' for every box so it was decided to remove them. Problem was that there was no database of where the PBs were located so all DOs were sent a form to list their boxes. RoMEC started removing the boxes and then some councils said they wanted a fee for removal too so at least in some areas it was decided just to forget about them until councils asked for them to be removed.