MADNESS 2

YELLOW TAXI
John Kirkham sprayed his car yellow to comply with a new council rule demanding a consistent colour for all taxis operating in Derby. The new colour scheme was introduced partly to prevent customers being duped into getting into vehicles which weren't officially licensed by the council. But last April, when Mr Kirkham applied for a new licence, the Derby City Council refused to license John Kirkham's cab because it claimed that it had been resprayed the wrong shade of yellow - a decision that prevented him from working. Officials were also unimpressed with the quality of the work.

His plight was highlighted in the Evening Telegraph and led to a surge of support from fellow drivers and the public. The councils decision to order the cabbie to respray his taxi a different shade of yellow could have cost Derby taxpayers £5,000. When the driver was refused permission to put up a sign in his cab that criticised Derby City Council he took them to court for being unreasonable. He wanted to put a sign on the back of his cab which read 'This shade of yellow is now legal' after the Derby Evening Telegraph forced the city council to rethink its bananas yellow cab policy.

And when the council lost the case, and was told to pay the cabbie's £3,000 costs, the Derby Evening Telegraph stepped in to save the taxpaper from paying out following the "daft" decision by the local authority. That left the public purse to pick up only a £2,000 bill for the council's own legal costs defending the case. Mr Kirkham was eventually offered a free re-spray by a local firm which was concerned that he was losing his livelihood while the taxi was off the road. The council refused the application on the grounds that the sign "could be construed as provocative".

Mr Kirkham's legal team told the court that, according to the council's own criteria for taxi signs, they must be in good keeping with the civic image of the city, not promote alcohol or tobacco and not be offensive or indecent. Being "provocative" was not a reason for refusal. The bench, backing Mr Kirkham's claim, awarded him £3,000 costs against the council. Mr Kirkham said after the hearing, "I'm elated. The court has backed me up when I was wronged by the council. I'll have these signs on my cab as soon as I can."

RENT INCREASE
A beekeeper at a Derby tourist attraction says that he is being driven out of business by council plans to increase his rent by 90 per cent. Tony Maggs has been selling honey from The Honey Pot at Markeaton Craft Village, Markeaton Park, for 11 years. He is the only commercial beekeeper in Derby, selling the by-products of his 40 colonies of two million bees directly to the public. But he claims that his business will collapse within a year because Derby City Council is planning to nearly double his rent in the next three years. He has been told that his rent will increase from £932 a year to £1,359 on June 1, a rise of 46 per cent, and that he could be charged £1,785 a year from 2004.

Other craft businesses in the park are also going to suffer from similar increases. Mr Maggs said, “I feel betrayed. The council encouraged crafts like beekeeping to come along but now that the units are full they think they can charge what they like. We are in turmoil because of Derby City Council. They are killing my business.” He said that the craft village was a tourist attraction which the council should be encouraging. “You can’t really make a living out of beekeeping but, because the rent was quite low, I was just about to make it work,” said Mr Maggs.

Blacksmith Andy McCallum, who runs Hammerhead, said that his own 80 per cent increase had convinced him to look elsewhere for workshop premises. “I have really kicked up a fuss about this,” he said. “I spend a lot of my time talking to members of the public who don’t come here to buy anything. We are a public amenity.” Both Richard Henderson, of Lilac Joinery, and Paul Yates, of Derby Stained Glass, declined to comment. Mr Maggs has raised a 150-name petition objecting to the rent increases, highlighting the views of visitors to the craft village.

Cindy Martin, of Autumn Grove, Chaddesden, said, “I am appalled to hear of this increase.” Joanna Taylor, from Tamworth, said, “We came all this way for a fantastic tourist attraction and find out that the council is willing to throw all of that away.” Robert Jones, leader of the city council, said that, although the June increases were now set in stone, the subsequent ones were still under negotiation. He said, “We need to maintain these units and the money has to come from somewhere.” Mr Jones denied that the council was killing off a major Derby tourism asset.

PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT
A property developer has accused Derby City Council of losing the letters of 12 residents supporting a plan to regenerate a piece of derelict wasteland. Clinton Bourke, of Derby developer Wheatcroft, made a planning application to build two shops on wasteland next to the Total Meridian service station, in Harvey Road, Allenton. Councillors turned down the application because the intended retail use did not comply with the council’s intended use for the land. The land has become an eyesore for local residents over a number of years and 14 of them claim to have written letters to the council backing the development.

But council planning officers maintain it has only received two of them. Mr Bourke believes that the council has overlooked the residents’ wishes. He has now vowed to allow the land to degenerate further in protest at the decision. Mr Bourke said, “It is not the first time I have been given incorrect information by the planning department. It is either deliberate or incompetence. I am now going to do nothing with the site. It can just sit there for another 10 years.” Councillors voted against the development on the grounds that it went against the city’s Local Plan.

The site is earmarked for employment and industrial use rather than retail. But Mr Bourke said, “They granted permission for the Lidl store and all the other retail on Normanton Road, which was contrary to the Local Plan.” The missing 12 letters may not have changed the verdict of the councillors, but Jackie Blaney, one of those whose letter did get through, nevertheless feels that the residents have been ignored. Mrs Blaney of nearby Wilkins Drive, said, “That site is a dirty, filthy eyesore. It’s a complete mess. I was told that it is down as employment land, but if you have two retail outlets you have got employment. Surely that is preferable to what we have now – nothing.”

John Stewart, council planning officer, said, “Fourteen letters may have been written, but they were not received.” He said that Mrs Blaney had been invited to speak on the subject, but had not responded soon enough to a letter of invitation to the meeting. Mrs Blaney claims that she never received a letter from the council informing her that the meeting was taking place. Councillor Sara Bolton, who voted against the development, said, “I have sympathy with Mr Bourke, but it is in conflict with the Local Plan. What is the point of a Local Plan if we don’t adhere to it?”

Mr Bourke, who purchased the 6,000sq ft site in 1997, said that there had been a complete lack of interest from industrialists because the area suffered from vandalism, burglary and car crime.

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