WHY SHOULD I PAY COUNCIL TAX WHEN MY STREET HAS BEEN TURNED INTO CRACK ALLEY?

A pensioner is facing jail for protesting against her council's
"refusal" to help residents in her once picturesque street which has
been overrun by drug dealers and prostitutes.

Hartington Street, with its terrace houses and tree-lined pavements,
was one of the most desirable addresses in Derby 20 years ago.

Today it is full of boarded-up windows, flats - many of them squats -
crammed with homeless drug addicts and immigrants. An alleyway behind
it was dubbed "Crack Alley" after council workers found 900
hypodermic needles in one hour.

Now Josephine Rooney, 69, has had enough. In November 2004 she
stopped paying her council tax and, with the bill currently at
UKP798, is now facing prosecution. She said she was ready to go to jail.

"If it means getting the authorities to sort this street out then it
will be a price worth paying," she said. "I have lived here 20 years
and when I moved in there were 50 owner-occupiers. Today there are seven.

"The council has been given huge grants to invest in regeneration yet
they have done nothing. All the people who own houses here are
pensioners. When we are gone what will be left of one of the most
beautiful streets in the city?"

The three-storey houses in Hartington Street, half a mile from Derby
city centre, were built 130 years ago but in the last 20 years nearly
all have been sold and converted into flats or bedsits.

Miss Rooney's complaint is not with the squatters - as a devout
Christian she spends a lot of time and money feeding them and handing
out hot drinks - but with the city council she claims has ignored her
and other residents' requests for money to help maintain the
properties and to prevent drug addicts and homeless people staying unlawfully.

Six years ago she formed the Hartington Area Residents' Committee,
which she chairs. A major cause of problems is the high proportion of
absentee landlords.

She said: "It's a sad and serious situation and I am refusing to pay
my tax to try to get the council to listen. This is a conservation
area with lovely houses but it has been allowed to go to ruin.

"The council allowed landlords to take over and turn the houses into
flats to solve the housing shortage but you rarely see any landlords
or signs that the properties are being looked after. The council
should be enforcing regulations and putting some of the huge
regeneration grants they get from Europe into our street. If we had
more resident landlords then it would help reduce crime."

She said she decided to refuse to pay her council tax because she
wanted to think of a way of civil disobedience.

She said: "I couldn't think of any then I read about a woman doing it
and it seemed the way ahead.

"I am tired of the situation and want some closure. I am very serious
and will go to jail to make my point if that's what it takes."

Larry Jones, 43, who lives in Hartington Street, said the area
desperately needed investment. "There are still people shouting at
all times of the night and slamming doors," he said. "Rubbish is
being dumped at the back, which means we get rats.

"Josephine is highlighting the issue that the council should sort the
street out and we support her."

In 2002 the street, along with those nearby, was given Renewal Area
Status. Money from the city council's capital programme, about
UKP450,000, was allocated to spruce it up, as was UKP167,000 from
European grants.

The street has figured in 33 reports to the police in the past six
months. There were eight assaults, seven reports of damage and arson,
four drug offences, three thefts of vehicles, two thefts from
vehicles, three for handling stolen goods, four burglaries, one other
theft and one fraud.

Andy Thomas, Derby Community Safety Partnership's head of strategy
for anti-social behaviour, said his team was working with other
organisations to improve residents' quality of life. He said they had
been successful in reducing prostitution and its associated problems.

Chris Williamson, the leader of Derby city council, said they had
approached Miss Rooney last July when a residents' forum was set up.

"We need partnership with the people who live in the area," he said.
"They can help to shape the programme to tackle the issues."