PLANS which could see the effective abolishment of Handforth Parish Council are set to take a crucial step forward next week.

Cheshire East Council’s constitution committee will meet next Tuesday (April 6) to approve sending the proposals out for a 12-week public consultation.

Already, Handforth parish councillors have formally declared their opposition to the move at their last meeting.

Cllr Cynthia Samson said: “I will be campaigning vigorously to stay independent. We are not the poor relations of Wilmslow.

“We have an excellent community. Somebody has just looked at a map and saw we are an independent parish council.”

Local Democracy Reporter summarises the last Handforth Parish Council meeting

The proposals in question follow a review started before the infamous ‘Jackie Weaver’ clip went viral, recommending a raft of boundary changes — including the merger of the Wilmslow and Handforth parishes into one larger authority.

Explaining the rationale for the changes, the review said: “Cheshire East Council considers that there will be merit in merging the existing parish of Handforth with the parish of Wilmslow as, to all intents and purposes, they form a single community. It will be appropriate to consider whether there should be separate representation of the electors of Handforth on the merged parish council.”

The committee is also set to authorise a series of changes for the Cheshire East Mayoralty — including a revised code of practice.

It comes after a motion of no confidence in Mayor Cllr Barry Burkhill was moved forward by the last full council meeting.

Put forward by Cllr Liz Wardlaw, she argued Cllr Burkhill’s involvement in the viral Handforth video showed he ‘made no attempt to intervene as it became clear participants in that meeting were being bullied’.

However, the council’s monitoring officer ruled before the meeting convened that the motion ‘may not proceed to debate and must be referred to the Standards Committee’.

As councillors approved its passage to the standards committee, it will be examined before being presented again to a future full council meeting.

The constitution committee will meet online at 11am on April 6, 2021.