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Handforth makes a bid to have its own voice
by Rachel Leslie9/ 7/2008
HANDFORTH should not be part of a future Wilmslow town council according to the village’s ward councillors.
With the new Cheshire East authority and abolition of Macclesfield Borough Council coming into force from next April, a sub committee of Wilmslow Forum has started considering the different options for representing the non-parished areas of the district: Wilmslow, Handforth and Fulshaw.
But Handforth’s Independent Ratepayers, councillors Barry Burkhill and Sue Bidwell, are concerned that a town council will be presented to the village as a fait accompli.
Coun Burkhill said: "Handforth councillors have never attended the Wilmslow Forum as Handforth has always taken pride in being a separate unit on its own and not part of Wilmslow. Handforth can speak for itself."
He said: "The main problem with a town council is that it is expensive and will have very little influence. Its remit will be to provide a forum for debate on town issues - a talking shop."
Coun Burkhill also voiced his concern about the financial burden on residents from funding a town council.
He said: "Handforth is well served by its various residents’ associations and friends groups who work tirelessly to improve the area on a voluntary basis without the necessity to raise the extra burden of a town council tax, especially on the poorer residents and pensioners who are already rightly complaining of the above inflationary rises in council taxes each year. Handforth has always had many knowledgeable, vociferous residents who do so without the need to impose another tax burden on them."
Coun Burkhill said that he and Coun Bidwell as borough concillors attended local meetings and fed back issues to the relevant councils.
He said: "We would expect the interim councillors to do the same until the return of councillor representation by wards in 2011 on Cheshire East."
But Wilmslow Forum and sub-committee chairman, Coun Rod Menlove, said no decision had been made on whether there would be a town council.
He said: "We are at the very beginning. In the end the decision will made by residents. We will work on a number of options and we will put these to the residents and they will decide. Some will involve extra costs, other won’t - it’s a cost benefit analysis."
He added: "Whether it will include Handforth is up to the residents. It’s a very democratic exercise: the majority of people will have what the majority of people want, but at the moment is seems best to talk about the non-parished areas."
Coun Burkhill added: "If Handforth residents want to be included then of course as democratic representatives of the people we would support it, but we believe that there is a strong case against it for the Handforth ward and we hope that any official proposal for a town council will include a plebiscite of residents on the issue."
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That's a lie Barry. The Wilmslow Forum used to be chaired by a Ratepayer. How do you explain that????
21/07/2008 at 23:15