Handforth: Viral meeting row council changes 'toxic name'

A council which went viral after a fractious Zoom meeting was shared on social media has changed its name.

Clips from a Handforth Parish Council meeting in December racked up millions of views online after being uploaded to Twitter in February.

It made a star of stand-in clerk Jackie Weaver as the chairman Brian Tolver told her she had "no authority here".

However, Ms Weaver does have the authority to switch on Handforth's Christmas lights on 27 November.

New chairman John Smith said the council had been renamed Handforth Town Council because they wanted to "move away from the toxic side of Handforth".

Since the infamous meeting, three councillors, including the former chairman Mr Tolver, have left.

Mr Smith said the name change had helped with the "disconnect between the old and the new".

"We're just getting back to what we used to be doing, which was doing stuff for the town council," he said.

"We're trying to deliver a number of projects that will improve people in Handforth's lives.

"What we'd like is, by definition of what we're doing, people don't refer to the viral issue any longer."

Mr Smith said the change also made sense because of the size of the town and to make it more inclusive, due to the word parish's links with the church.

"So many people believed it to be something to do with the church [and] the Vicar of Dibley didn't help," he said.

"What we wanted to do was ensure people that we're nothing to do with the church, we're purely here as a town council so that's why we decided to change the name."

In September, Cheshire East Council launched a 12-week consultation on parish and town councils.

It proposed merging Handforth Town Council with neighbouring areas Wilmslow and Chorley, though all three councils are against the plans.

Mr Smith said he had concerns about finances, especially around the distribution of money paid by developers to local authorities through the Community Infrastructure Levy.

Cheshire East Council said the consultation was being held because the current governance arrangements date from before the council was formed and there had been "considerable change" to the borough's settlements.

It added that there would not be any "change for change's sake" and nothing had been decided.

Alongside the changes made at the council, life has also changed for Ms Weaver.

She is from the Cheshire Association of Local Councils and, during the heated meeting which went viral, she was standing in as the clerk.

Since then, she has gone on to become a household name.

But Handforth still maintains its links with her and she is returning to switch on their Christmas lights later in the month.

"We've always had a good relationship with Jackie Weaver," Mr Smith said.

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