Scott’s council tax protest over rubbish (From Echo)
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Scott’s council tax protest over rubbish
10:00am Friday 9th October 2009 in News By Michelle Archard
Scott Frisby – defiant
A FRUSTRATED dad is refusing to pay his council tax in protest at a council’s failure to clear up flytipped rubbish and stop antisocial behaviour in his neighbourhood.
Scott Frisby, 31, and his family have been through six months of “hell” because of problems around their terraced home in Westcliff Park Drive, Westcliff.
Despite countless calls to ,Southend.gov.uk" target="_blank">Southend Council he says nothing has been done. The council has now pledged to talk to Mr Frisby to tackle the problems he has highlighted.
Mr Frisby said: “The council is failing to deliver a service to us so, from this month, I’ll be deducting 25 per cent from my monthly council tax payment. I don’t mind continuing payment towards the police and fire, but I feel it is justified by the lack of action by the council in which time my family have had to endure fly-tipping, verbal abuse, damage to property and stress. It’s made our life hell. I don’t really want to do this, but it’s a last resort.”
Mr Frisby says the matter has got so bad during the summer holidays his children, aged seven and eight would not play out in the back garden because they were scared.
Mr Frisby says he has already paid to clear the flytipped rubbish once, but is not prepared to do it again.
He said; “There’s a mattress, paint pots and rubbish dumped in my side alley and along the back of my garden. It could be flammable, especially as people throw their cigarette ends there.
“There’s also damage to my fence and my shed and we have been shouted at, threatened and our dog has been prodded with sticks.
“The council policy states: ‘Our aims are focused on developing a better quality of life for our communities and ensuring that Southend is a place to be proud of. “From my own experience, I know the council has failed to meet this, and I feel let down. If Southend Council wishes to pay uncaring landlords rent for disruptive families, which causes distress to others, then I want no part in funding such activities.”
Sally Holland, Southend Council’s director of support services, said: “It is always our aim to deliver the best possible service to our customers and we are very sorry to hear that one of our customers is dissatisfied with the service he has received.
“I will be contacting Mr Frisby to discuss how we might resolve these issues as swiftly as possible.”
Comments(19)
Discouraged
says...
10:58am Fri 9 Oct 09
Ian from Southend
says...
11:14am Fri 9 Oct 09
It is the parents problem, the council does not cause it. Lock up the parents of these wasters who are causing this poor fella a hard time.
Fly tippers are lazy, greedy antisocial scum and again it is not the Councils fault and should only clear it up if it is Council land.
Blame bad parents for bringing up wasters, not the Council !
Nebs
says...
11:35am Fri 9 Oct 09
Don South
says...
11:45am Fri 9 Oct 09
.
The alleyway doenst belong to the council and the council isnt responsible for keeping it clear.
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Most of these alleyways are the responsibility of the residents of the homes that back onto them - the council will gate the alleyway to stop flytippping if all the residents agree with the gating.
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If you home is being attacked and your children threatened dial 999 - it is a Police matter! What can the council do? "Hello Southend Council my home is being attacked"...
..."erm have you tried dialing 999?"
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If someone is prodding your dog with a stick phoning the council wont stop it. What do you want someone to come down from the Civic offices and tell the person to stop?
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If it was my dog I wouldnt let a single person lay a finger on it.
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Good luck with the council tax - after a couple of reminders you will get summmonsed and have extra costs slapped on - the magistrate is unable to take your excuses into account - especially as most of the issues are not the responsibility of the council!
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As for the rent paid for by southend council to landlords - they just administer the scheme for the Government so the money comes from central government not the council tax. This should really be a task of the benefits agency not local authorities as it used to be a social security benefit but to save costs the Government gave the responsibility to councils instead.
jayman
says...
11:59am Fri 9 Oct 09
e corrupt council...
funman77
says...
12:35pm Fri 9 Oct 09
This is a peacfull kick up the butt to the council to ensure anti social behaviour is dealt with.
Scott is in a no win situation here. He and his familly can put up with it or he can make a stand. He chose to make a non violent stand against these people, that has to be respected.
Ian from Southend
says...
12:42pm Fri 9 Oct 09
funman77
says...
12:57pm Fri 9 Oct 09
'It is an offence under the Environmental Protection
Act 1990 to fly-tip any material. Conviction could lead
to a heavy fine. The Council liaises closely with the
Environment Agency on incidences of fly-tipping.'
http://www.southend.
gov.uk/content.asp?s
ection=160
;)
Peter Pantsless
says...
1:26pm Fri 9 Oct 09
Ian from Southend wrote:Ian, you may be right, but Southend Council itself does not seem to understand the concept of a council and what duties it has!
People here do not seem to understand the concept of a Council and what duties it has. May I suggest some of you research this, especially as you are paying for it through your Council Tax and a small percentage from your income tax.
Don South
says...
2:55pm Fri 9 Oct 09
funman77 wrote:If you had tabbed down you would have found:-
Here is a list of services the council should be providing which includes fly-tipping, and Anti scial behaviour. 'It is an offence under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to fly-tip any material. Conviction could lead to a heavy fine. The Council liaises closely with the Environment Agency on incidences of fly-tipping.' http://www.southend. gov.uk/content.asp?s ection=160 ;)
The owner(s) and occupier(s) of private land, footpaths and alleyways are legally responsible for keeping their land clear of rubbish. The Council's Environmental Health Service has the legal power to force owners and/or occupiers to keep their land clear of rubbish, however, if they do not co-operate with the Council, it can take several weeks for the legal process to get the land cleared of rubbish.
funman77
says...
3:18pm Fri 9 Oct 09
The council should enforce the tennant or landlord to clear.
Don South
says...
4:26pm Fri 9 Oct 09
funman77 wrote:"A FRUSTRATED dad is refusing to pay his council tax in protest at a council’s failure to clear up flytipped rubbish ..."
Yes Dom, but that is not the issue is it. The land has been cleared by the owner, but the neighbours are fly tipping in the garden so it's a fly tipping issue. The report doesn't state he wants the council to clear the rubbish, but to stop the behaviour of the neighbours dumping it there, which if you call the council or police you will be put in touch with the Anti Social unit. It states this has been done but the issue remains. I think you need to read the article again. Someone needs to be held accountable for stuff like this, it may be the tennants, landlord or council. The council should enforce the tennant or landlord to clear.
Are we reading the same article?
scottfrisby
says...
6:54pm Fri 9 Oct 09
I understand not everyone will agree with my views but this is a result of many months of hassle in which time I have contacted the appropriate departments, and also spoken to the ASBO departments, not just the council.
Don, you are correct that the council shouldn’t be forced to clear rubbish but my stance to them is that I have complained to the relevant people many times and nobody is helping in anyway, I’m not demanding the council has to clear it but to help find a resolve to get it cleared and no more future tipping. The anti social department has contacted them regarding all the issues but with no resolve.
I have always paid my taxes and would never recommend not paying them but I’m trying to make the council and other departments sit up and understand that someone has to be held accountable whether it’s the ASBO dept, council, landlords or tenants.
The director of support services has yet to get in touch.
Regards, Scott
S-end-Sam
says...
6:52pm Sat 10 Oct 09
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Don South is completely missing the point to this; Complaints were made over a number of months regarding nuisance neighbours to departments funded by our council tax. How it is pooled and allocated by the government is irrelevant. Calling 999 for issues like this is wrong so don’t suggest this. You say you wouldn’t let someone poke your dog, so what would you have done? Call the AntiSocial unit that were already called, get physical with them and have everyone arrested?
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“Good luck with the council tax - after a couple of reminders you will get summmonsed and have extra costs slapped on - the magistrate is unable to take your excuses into account - especially as most of the issues are not the responsibility of the council! “
This very quote from Don South just shows the power the council and government have over people, i.e you are too scared to make a stand in case you get into trouble.
.
There is a big man here that didn’t use his fists but tried legal approaches to solve a problem but no solution was given. Good luck to you Scott if people showed more backbone like this then perhaps we wouldn’t have the ASBO problems around the UK now.
I guess this is why people end up taking the law into their own hands!!
S-end-Sam
says...
9:18am Sun 11 Oct 09
gov.uk/resources/051
laa2008finalsept08.p
df
This is southends Local Area Agreement. Slogan 'Quality of life, for life'
Pages 14 and 15 I expect most relevant in showing that SBC have an agreement to curb anti socil behaviour.
What amuses me is that those who are anti social get all the help in the world to sort their 'problems' out but those of us who have to put up with this don't get any support.
I put this in another article but SBC may put palm trees down Hamlet Court Road but this doesn't hide the fact there is scum living around the area that no one is dealing with. SBC are just painting over rust.
Get Ames out as well as he is just a drain on society and a waste of space in the goverment. Get someone who will make changes!!
Mark D
says...
10:58pm Mon 12 Oct 09
S-end-Sam
says...
8:59am Tue 13 Oct 09
The home Secretary has said it's the police and council that should be dealing with ASB. Council tax we pay go towards paying both.
Quote:
'They will also be required to provide residents with a right of complaint when problems are not addressed'
Scott your well ahead of the game but make sure you follow the correct complaint route!!!
You are correct in your thinking but still will be dragged through the courts. You let one man get away with it and everyone will do it.
http://news.bbc.co.u
k/1/hi/uk/8303989.st
m
scottfrisby
says...
9:27am Wed 14 Oct 09
Reading the documents linked above and the BBC website article and again receiving nothing from the ASB department and Southend council services regarding all the issues, I have contacted Mr Alan Johnson by email regarding the link provided by s-end-sam:
http://news.bbc.co.u
k/1/hi/uk/8303989.st
m
.
Understand that I have always worked, paid taxes and never asked for a free ride in life so this is not about personal gain for me.
I am fed up with the way disruptive people can enter a community, cause havoc and be above the law while getting all the support in the world while those having to live around them get no support and have to put up with ASB. If these people need such help then this is fine but understand that people being effected by them need support once the trouble starts as at present they seem to be above the law and everyone else just has to put up with it.
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Southend Council, ASB and Support Services are still apparently “looking into it” which raises the question. Why do they need to look into something that was raised 7 months ago unless they were lying about this? I have put all this into an email to Mr Johnson and copied in Susan Holland stating all this.
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Many may not agree with what I do or how I deal with this situation but I am doing what I think is right and I hope that it may make the relevant areas sit up and take action thus helping other people in similar situations.
.
Regards
Scott
Peter Pantsless says...
10:43am Fri 9 Oct 09
.
If there's only one thing SBC is competent at it is the collection of council tax.
I'm guessing that you are up to this point a respected member of the comunity that has always paid your council tax on time and to the full amount.
And for this reason this is where your problem lies, Southend council know this and will persecute you for it with payment demands quicker than you can say 'Smiles-on-Sea'.
Now if you were of the non paying persuasion, benefit scrounger, dole bludger, or immigrant/asylum seeker type then you would probably not get this response.
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Now i dont know how much of a problem this is around Westcliff, but when i was unfortunate enough to live in central southend for a while it was common place.