CLEAN-UP CAMPAIGN

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A community campaign to clean-up a Derby city centre street got a good response after it was backed by the Derby Evening Telegraph. Pensioner Josephine Rooney, who is chairman of Hartington Area Residents' Committee, rallied residents of Hartington Street to press for action and get an alleyway behind their houses cleaned up. After making no real progress, Ms Rooney, who chairs the street's Residents Action Committee, wrote to the Telegraph for its support.

Following an article in the newspaper where Ms Rooney compared the alleyway to a war zone in a Third World Country, the council has finally began the clean-up. Ms Rooney said, "I want to thank the Derby Evening Telegraph for highlighting the problems and the city council for organising the clean-up when it does not have a legal duty." As the alleyway is on private land, it is not the council's responsibility, but the council arranged for the probation service to send some workers in to do the job. Presumably, the owner of the land will be presented with the bill.

Ms Rooney claims that Derby City Council has failed in its duty of care to the people who live in Hartington Street. She has lived in her Band B property for 20 years and has always paid her council tax, which is currently £657 a year. But in 2005 she decided that she felt so strongly about it that she had to withhold payment of the £840 she owes, made up of council tax, bailiff visits and a courts summons. Ms Rooney said the street was a regular haunt for drug-users and that discarded syringes were a common sight.

She also said the council had not done enough to improve the street, which is often used as a dump for things such as mattresses, according to Ms Rooney. In 2002, Hartington Street became a renewal area, which means it was designated as an area needing major improvement. The council spent about £450,000 on giving the street a facelift, but owner-occupier residents like Ms Rooney claim this has done little to improve the undesirable element in the neighbourhood.

She said, "This is an issue of conscience. I'm prepared to go to prison if I have to. I'm prepared for whatever they throw at me. The magistrates gave me a hearing and they were very nice to me. I was really pleased that they let me give them the reasons why I'm not paying. I told them I realise that I'm responsible for my council tax, but I feel the council has violated its duty of care for the residents of Hartington Street. They said I've got to pay the bill, but I'm not going to. What would be the point of going through everything I've been through if I gave up now?"

A typically sympathetic council spokeswoman said, "We've a number of ways we can pursue these unpaid funds, depending on whether people are employed, and we can take it from their wages, or on benefits, and we can detract it from that, for example." (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph)

Josephine Rooney was jailed for three months by Derby magistrates. In a statement handed to District Judge Joanne Alderson at Derby Magistrates' Court she said, "When people are pushed into a corner and their rights are taken away, there comes a time when one has to take drastic action. I have always believed we live in a free a democratic country and yet I see current policies set by our local authority that are in conflict with these principles."

She said the council had promised to improve her neighbourhood, with schemes to tackle anti-social behaviour and housing conditions. She added, "In this regard they have failed miserably in their stated aims and at the same time caused immeasurable distress and hardship to the poorest and most vulnerable residents in our community."

The city council denied Ms Rooney's claims, saying measures were already in place to improve the area. After confirmation from the council that Ms Rooney had not yet paid her tax bill, the judge told her, "Sadly I have no alternative but to note your wilful refusal to pay and to activate that sentence today." She will serve her sentence at New Hall Prison, in Wakefield. (Source: BBC News, Jun/06)

COMMENTS

Ms Rooney hasn't murdered, mugged, thieved nor vandalised but it was easy enough to put her in prison. But wait, you can be a completely useless member of society and get away with it, but not if you have the audacity to withhold your council tax because you are not getting value for money. I wish Ms Rooney well and it is a pity she is not getting the respect she deserves. Ian

Under Labours new poposals for dealing with low level crime, she should have held up the local bank at knifepoint to pay her bill. She would then only get a £500 fine, but with the profit she made, paid her council tax and been in pocket to boot. Karl
(See: Sentencing)

It is ridiculous to say that she should have been sent to prison. She'd spent years trying other courses of action and been pushed into a corner so she felt that she had no other course of action. I admire her. It is just a shame that real criminals aren't treated as severely. Louise

It is the government that are the criminals in this sorry farce, they are the ones that should be locked up. They let murderers rapists and paedophiles free, call an amnesty on illegal immigrants and jail a pensioner. This country is just about beyond all repair and no Tory government will make any difference. Nina

So Ms Rooney committed the crime of not paying her Council Tax in protest at the Council she pays it to not fulfilling promised services. If goods or services one pays for are faulty or do not deliver the agreed result, you don't pay! What's different about a Council? Since when is it a crime to withold payment under such circumstances? You pay up when the job is done properly. I knew Hartington Street as it used to be and am horrified at what its become, this lady has be jailed but the druggies that cause part of the problem aren't. Jenny

She has been left with absolutely no alternative. If we were all as courageous as she is, we could bring the system to a standstill. If local authorities were denied their golden egg, they would have to take action and so would central government. I used to believe that there was never any good reason to break the law, but when our politicians make laws that punish good people and protect bad people, then if they will not listen to us, we have to try something else. Council Tax revenue is spent on all the wrong people. It encourages bad behaviour by rewarding net recipients and keeps net donors in their place by using the law to rob them and by using the lawless to keep the law-abiding in fear. She deserves a medal. Hopefully, the other prisoners will see to it that she is looked after, as we surely cannot rely upon the authorities to do so. J Smith

See also: Smack Alley

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