RESIDENTS and community leaders have urged mobile phone companies to improve coverage in the Dales.

The request came after BT announced plans to remove many payphones in the area.

Most of Swaledale and Arkengarthdale still have no coverage, despite mobile service providers boasting that 99 per cent of the population can now get a signal.

Councillor John Blackie, leader of Richmondshire District Council, said the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority had recently relaxed planning restrictions on the building of mobile masts.

"It's now up to the service providers to provide a service," he said.

"I accept these are marginal areas in terms of returns for the companies, but they do boast they cover almost 100 per cent of the population.

"Mobile phones would bring peace of mind to residents in these rural areas, especially as BT is removing the majority of the public phoneboxes in the upper Dales."

Mobile phone user Joe Squires, 25, of High Fremington, near Reeth, said it was almost impossible to get a signal in Swaledale.

"If you stand on top of a hill and jump up and down you can sometimes get one or two bars. It's a real pain," he said.

Reeth Parish Council is investigating the situation after assurances that coverage would be improved in June.

Currently, the only signal available in the two Dales is between Low Row and Muker, on Orange.

But a spokesman for the company was unable to say if more masts were planned.

O2 said it covered almost all the country, but has no plans to build a mast in Swaledale or Arkengarthdale

"Where there is a limited number of people it is just not commercially viable," said a spokesman.

A similar response was given by Vodafone. However, not everybody wants mobile phones to work in the Dales.

Robert Stillion, manager of the Buck Hotel, Reeth, said: "It would mean people could get hold of me on one of my rare days off.

"Visitors comment on how pleasant it is in the dining room without mobile phones ringing all the time."