Doretta
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Press Release - CROW (Collect Refuse in Oxford Weekly)Frances Kennett, a campaigner for a return to weekly waste collections, is being sued by Oxford City Council for withholding Council Tax in protest at the fortnightly service.
Frances Kennett of Jericho stated, ‘I’ve had rats in my house since three months after the system was introduced. No council department or other agency has found a way to get rid of them. Besides, I am not having a council dictate my standards of hygiene within my own property. That’s why I have withheld one’s month’s council tax in protest. I am being turned into a criminal.‘
Oxford Council are treating this action as default, and suing Kennett for a year’s worth of tax. Non-payment will lead to attachment of income, or the bailiffs.
Frances Kennett’s property is terraced, with no side entrance or back alley. Waste has to be carried through her home from a small back garden, which has no space to store two boxes and a wheelie bin.
‘What else can I do but protest? No one on the Council is listening – ‘
A recent Government Select Committee Report on waste confirmed that fortnightly collections did not suit all neighbourhoods, particularly in urban areas and neighbourhoods with high levels of houses of multiple occupation; and that the roll-out had been inflexible (doctrinaire) in many cities.
‘I’m all in favour of recycling and take everything I can to the dumps or other collection spots, but the lilac bags were stinking even inside my own solid storage bin and filled the kitchen with a stench. I can’t sit with the door open onto the garden for the increase in bluebottles in the vicinity. I am not living like this.’
Frances Kennett and supporters, including Doretta Cocks from the Campaign for Weekly Waste Collection, will be meeting outside the Oxford Magistrates Court on Friday 28 September, at 1 p.m.
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