Jackie Weaver has slammed claims that she 'did not have the authority' to eject members of Handforth Parish Council during the now infamous viral meeting, saying she 'is not the one on trial'.
Six reports have been issued by Cheshire East Council on wide-ranging investigation into Handforth Parish Council, which took 12 months to complete at a cost of £85,000. Much of the attention the reports have received has been centred upon Jackie Weaver, and whether or not she had the authority to expel members from the meeting.
In an interview with CheshireLive, Jackie said: "I think there’s a lot of misunderstanding in the reporting of it so far. It’s implied when you read the headlines that the £85,000 cost was an investigation into that meeting - that’s nonsense, that’s not what the investigation cost."
READ: Jackie Weaver did NOT have the authority, according to new report
"The investigation was actually into over 12 months of reporting by other members of the council and members of the public against the three councillors. That report came out some time ago, and the three councillors resigned just before it.
"This report is a report to Cheshire East members about the process and lessons that perhaps Cheshire East can learn in terms of supporting local councils so that we don’t get these lengthy investigations in the future; and an explanation of why it took so long and why it cost so much. So it’s not an investigation into the meeting itself.
"The amount of times it took, and the associated costs with that, were because the three members were completely uncooperative.
"The headline - it makes good reading: ‘Jackie Weaver you have no authority here’. First of all, I never claimed to have any authority, second is that the finding actually says that my actions were ‘without any formal footing,’ which is not the same thing at all. And, given that we didn’t have any relevant standing orders or guidance on how we conduct virtual meetings, it’s not exactly the same thing as ‘you have no authority here,’ which implies that I did something wrong."
She adds: "The report goes on to say that, given the background, my actions were perfectly understandable. We mustn't forget, this isn’t an investigation into my actions."
Jackie says that she has received a number of 'unpleasant' emails since the report was made public: "I’ve had quite a lot of unpleasant mail, it kind of totally forgets that this is about the appalling behaviour of three councillors," she said.
"I have nothing to do with that whatsoever. One person who emailed me said that they’d been made to look fools, but I didn’t make them look fools, they managed that entirely by themselves.
"I have had some unpleasant emails today from people who feel that it has vindicated there original view, although I disagree. Among the things that they say is, ‘You should resign, you’ve brought the sector into disrepute.’ The only thing I can rebut that with, is that fortunately I know that’s not true. I know through my experiences over the last twelve months that there has been a real renaissance in interest in local councils in a positive way."
"It is a bit frustrating when other people will just simply read the headline and say, ‘Well, that’s where we are,’ but that’s not what it’s at ... Hang on, I’m not actually the one on trial here," she adds.
So what really happened at Handforth Parish Council? Jackie explains: "The whole thing started several months before [the meeting], resulting in the clerk being completely wrongly suspended when the clerk declared a vacancy on the council, when a councillor hadn’t attended for six months.
"And despite every relevant body … saying it was a properly declared vacancy - that if a person hadn’t attended for six months then they were no longer a councillor - these three councillors would not accept that advice, and they relied upon advice they had taken from elsewhere, but which they were unable to share with anybody.
"Because the clerk wouldn’t reinstate the person - although the clerk first of all had done nothing wrong by declaring the vacancy, it was correctly done, and secondly, even if it wasn’t, they had no power to reinstate the councillor - the chairman suspended him and declared himself acting clerk. Both of those would have to be council decisions, but they were not.
"What is extremely irritating is the way that the chairman makes great store by due process, but yet does not follow it himself."
Jackie believes that, ultimately, the attention that the video generated has had a positive impact on local government by raising awareness of what local councils do: "It really has been, ultimately, something that has a very positive effect on the sector," she said.
Jacky added: "The first couple of weeks it was, ‘let’s watch and see if we can see anything else funny,’ but that passed very quickly. I’ve had the opportunity because of the media attention to talk to say many organisations and groups … who are actually interested in local council. They hadn’t appreciated that, actually, they can be an incredibly valuable asset in a community, and can really make things happen."
