A chaotic parish council meeting lauded as 'comedy gold' after it went viral has been slammed as a 'disgrace' by the resident who posted it online. If you haven't seen chaos descend yet, you need to:
Janet Taylor, 60, said she felt 'embarrassed to be a resident' of the Cheshire village of Handforth after the meeting spiralled into a foul-mouthed, hour-long shouting match.
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In the viral video, Handforth Parish Council's planning and environment committee gets off to a rocky start after the chairman Brian Tolver appeared to challenge the legitimacy of the meeting.
Mr Tolver shouted at a participant in the call, Jackie Weaver, and told her 'you have no authority here, Jackie Weaver, no authority at all,' before he was booted from the call and placed in a virtual waiting room. Savage.
Chaos ensued as councillor Aled Brewerton reacted to Mr Tolver's expulsion by exclaiming: "She's kicked him out. No, she's kicked him out. SHE'S KICKED HIM OUT."
He then attempted to commandeer the meeting as vice-chairman before shouting: "Read the standing orders - read them and understand them." Mr Brewerton was then also sent to a virtual waiting room.
Councillor Susan Moore then called for civility, but the meeting erupted into hysterical laughter and councillor Barry Burkhill was also sent to the waiting room.
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Janet said that in over six years of attending local parish council meetings she had never seen anything as 'appalling' as she saw in the meeting which was held on 10 December last year.
Janet, who has lived in Handforth near Wilmslow, Cheshire, her entire life, said: "In six years that's the worst meeting I've ever been to. It's a disgrace.
"I was incredulous that someone could act like that in a meeting. If it was a normal meeting they would have been sacked."
She added: "It's just appalling behaviour, I'm embarrassed to be a resident of Handforth.
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"I didn't expect it to go viral but I can understand. It's just unfortunate that they can't work together for the good of Handforth instead of their ego.
"I just find it hard to believe they acted the way they did. It's an awful state of affairs, but when you watch it they act like children."
Handforth Parish Council and one of the meeting's participants, Jackie Weaver, have both been trending on Twitter as the meeting hit more than one million views on the social media platform and YouTube.
At one stage chairman Tolver, who refused to recognise the legitimacy of the meeting, had labelled himself 'clerk' on the Zoom call.
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Ms Weaver replied saying: "The chairman simply declared himself 'clerk' and notified everybody of the case. There is no way of stopping him from calling himself clerk."
She then quipped: "Please refer to me as Britney Spears from now on."
At another point in the call, a member of the public interrupted the meeting to take a phone call and a councillor was heard off screen saying: "We're trying to have a Teams meeting, you fool".
You just can't make this up.
The meeting has been described online as 'British comedy gold' and 'like something out of The Thick of It'.
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Britney Jackie Weaver said: "I am delighted that people have seen the behaviour of these three councillors and I hope they will take from it an understanding that will not be tolerated. It's unacceptable.
"The three councillors who'd been trying to hold this meeting had done everything right, and here we have the vocal three coming and trampling over it."
Councillor Brian Tolver said: "The law concerns the conduct of Parish Council meetings states as follows: 'At a meeting of a parish council the chairman, if present, shall preside...'
"The action of the person operating the Zoom system (Jackie Weaver) was a serious breach of this law.
"I cannot think of any other council meeting anywhere that was taken over by an unqualified member of the public like this."
Featured Image Credit: Handforth Parish Council