The orange telephone kiosks, the property of a company that went into liquidation in 2004, had fallen into disrepair and had become a magnet for vandalism and antisocial behaviour.

The council’s environment improvement team has been working with residents and businesses in the area to take action and remove the phone boxes that were located outside Sussex Bookshops and the YMCA charity shop in London Road and in Circus Parade.

Councillor Geoffrey Theobald, cabinet member for environment, said, “This is an excellent example of a community working with the council to take out a significant piece of street clutter that had been a problem for many years.

“Our environment improvement team targets unsightly areas that residents tell us are encouraging antisocial behaviour or that make them feel unsafe. They then work with a range of agencies and council services to solve the problem.”

The work came out of a street audit that council officers carried out in March. The date of the next street audit, planned for September, will be decided at the next meeting of the London Road Local Action Team on 7 September at the Calvary Church, Preston Circus at 6.30pm.