Our Readers SayYour lettersCouncil TaxCouncil Tax and rubbish: the day the rats came Council Tax and rubbish: the day the rats came
By Frances Kennett - 04/10/2007
I have been fighting Oxford Council about the introduction of an impractical household waste system for months, because of a rat infestation that descended on me in January 2007, three months after the new (fortnightly) collections were rolled out in my neighbourhood.
Since then, the Councillor in charge, Jean Fooks (Lib Dem) has consistently refused to see any connection, or listen to any complaints from particularly desperate residents. In April, I withheld one month’s council tax (sending formal letters to all the appropriate parties stating my reason).
Naturally this meant I lost my right to Direct Debit, but I got round this by paying by Standing Order. However, I was summonsed by the Council for liability not only for the missing month, but the entire amount up to the end of the tax year, March 2008.
Backed by enormous support from Isitfair, I presented my own defence, and won the sympathy of the District Judge - not Magistrate, which was a definite bonus. I was found liable, but costs were left with the Council, and the Judge Brian Loosely made the connection between the rat infestation and the fortnightly household waste collection for the first time.
He expressed sympathy for my situation - and I knew the tide was turning when he asked the Council Tax Office if the City had sent anyone from the Public Health Department to clarify the situation.
His decision will help residents in other areas of the country to pursue what has become a national issue.
Rubbish affects everyone - but more importantly, failure to fulfil duties to keep our homes clean is an appalling piece of misjudgement and neglect on the part of any Council. A recent Government Select Committee report has said that the system has been rolled out inflexibly, in a doctrinaire fashion, and that bi-weekly collections are not suitable for dense inner city areas, with multiple-occupancy dwellings. And that describes my area.
I am delighted with the response of the Court, and will continue to keep pressure on until the system is reversed. I have learnt so much about the prejudiced and incompetent running of my local Council in the process, and think that Isitfair are a very necessary and useful force to scrutinise what is going on. Councils are not listening to those people who elected them to represent and serve their constituency.
I had no idea how little room for manoeuvre a normal resident has.
Frances Kennett
The Isitfair perspective
Christine Melsom, from Isitfair, said: "Oxford's head of council tax attended court instead of a minion. So this case must have worried him. The judge exposed the fact that even when council departments have an obvious need to liaise, as in this case, they don't bother to do so.
"The Judge said to the defendant 'you are not here as a criminal.' Lots of people think they will be criminalised by going to court - they don't realise that under Common Law and the Human Rights Act they have "the right to be heard. The Judge acknowledged the connection between withholding of council tax and the failure of a service the council should deliver. Council Tax problems are usually the tip of an iceberg, quite often an iceberg of council administrative and policy failures which keep local voluntary advice organisations (such as the citizens advice bureau) stretched to the maximum.
For more information about Isitfair, The Nationwide Campaign Calling For The Reform Of The Council Tax System, please visit the link below.