16 years on from when a woman was jailed for her protest over troubled city street, has anything changed?
IT was 16 years ago when Derby heard one of its most famous court cases which centred on the state of a Derby street and a woman refusing to pay council tax because of it. Now in 2022 – five prime ministers later (soon to be six) and four football World Cups on – the same issues at Hartington Street are again making the headlines and being campaigned about – which begs the question of what really has changed in 16 years.
The last few years have seen a well-known Rooney (Wayne) making local headlines left, right and centre – but in 2006 it was another Rooney on which all eyes seemed to be focused.
In 2006, Josephine Rooney battled against Derby City Council all the way to the courtroom in what proved to be a fascinating tale involving crime and the values of democracy which gripped the entire nation. The Hartington Street resident, then 69-years-old, refused to pay council tax in protest over her drug-infested street.
Reports at the time stated that Miss Rooney, who had been given a Home Office award for her community work, had repeatedly ignored the authority’s requests to settle her council tax debt, which was understood to be close to the £800 mark.
At Southern Derbyshire Magistrates’ Court, she said she had to take drastic action because the council had failed in its duty to tackle problems over “poor housing conditions” in Hartington Street. There were also many issues dealing with anti-social behaviour and prostitution.
At the time she said: “I’m doing this on behalf of all decent taxpayers. To see so much money being squandered by an authority is awful. I’m doing this because I’m at the end of my tether. I’m absolutely determined that I will succeed in this because it’s such an important cause that I’m fighting for.”
But devout Christian Miss Rooney’s fight with the council saw her end up behind bars as she was jailed for three months for wilfully refusing to pay her council tax.
Back then the council said Miss Rooney’s jail punishment had been a “last resort” in troubling circumstances.
Councillor Dave Roberts, the then deputy leader of the city council, said: “We do have a legal duty to collect council tax to avoid penalising people who do pay.
“We’re sorry that Miss Rooney has taken the route of protesting by not paying her council tax and that she has now been jailed. We don’t like to see people jailed for nonpayment.”
Miss Rooney was also quoted as saying: “This is not about me, it’s about the issue. I just hope that I can encourage other people to fight for what they believe in, too.”
Now 16 years on, with the nation holding its breath ready for another new prime minister to take office and another football world cup around the corner, another woman is mounting a battle against Derby City Council over Hartington Street and similar issues facing the community.
Sassi Stark, 29, has launched a petition with the aim of improving the Hartington Street conservation area in Derby, which she says has lost its identity. She believes the city council’s “loose planning regulations” are to blame for areas such as Hartington Street and the Osmaston area of the city being rundown.
The campaigner wants Hartington Street to return to the old times when it was a once beautiful street. She says the street is strewn with litter, drug-taking paraphernalia, sofas, fridges and broken glass – not much different to Miss Rooney’s original complaints a generation before, you could argue.
Miss Stark wants the council to enforce new planning regulations which would give the council greater control of conservation areas and reduce so many bedsit type applications (or House of Multiple Occupation – HMOs) which Miss Stark feels are allowed to easily pass through the system. She also believes too many HMOs in one area can destroy communities.
At the time of writing, the online petition has been signed by more than 700 people. It can be viewed at https://www.change.org/p/enforcearticle-4-to-protect-derby-fromunethical-hmo-development.
Derby City Council is still facing questions on issues with Hartington Street today, as it was in 2006.
The authority says it is working with landlords to make “lasting improvements”.
A spokesperson recently said: “We are aware that the Hartington Street area is subject to some challenging issues such as graffiti and fly-tipping and these are not a straightforward byproduct of planning regulations.
“We continue to encourage residents to work with us to address these issues within our neighbourhoods. Our Environmental Protection Team has recently undertaken enforcement action in relation to fly-tipping on the street as a result of intelligence from one of the landlords.
“We have also started to develop a collaborative relationship with landlords on Hartington Street with the reinvigoration of the Hartington Street landlord forum. We hope that working in partnership to deliver our Better Together approach in the area will help bring some lasting improvements.”