LOCAL councillor Maria Connor is bringing change to the cobbles ahead of Christmas.
But not everybody in Coronation Street is bound to agree with her ideas.
The feisty hairdresser played by Samia Longchambon takes her political role seriously.
In recent episodes of the Manchester-based soap, Maria decided to open up a refugee centre.
Next week, she does all she can to support the centre by bringing a huge change to the Street ahead of the festive season.
Coming up on ITV, Maria addresses the Christmas market committee and shares her plan to rename it a Winter Market.
To top it all of, she also makes the decision to support the refugee centre.
Councillor Cameron immediately objects to her idea but Maria overrules, leaving him seething.
And he probably won't be the only one to be opposed to her idea.
Dodgy activist and reputed racist Griff Reynolds (portrayed by Game of Thrones star Michael Condron) tried to stop the refugee centre from opening.
Maria was floored when he confronted her with a petition signed by multiple individuals who were reportedly against the centre opening.
However, next week, Maria discovers that nearly all the signatures on Griff's shady petition were actually from fake accounts.
Griff has been wreaking havoc in recent weeks and, much like Maria, Roy Cropper stoop his ground when he was faced with the activist at the community centre.
This resulted in the café owner being included in a deep fake video made by Max Turner (Paddy Bever).
The teen is set for a dramatic descent as part of a hard-hitting grooming storyline focusing on radicalisation.
Concerns begin to grow for the troubled lad, particularly within his family.
However, Griff targets another Coronation Street resident next week.
Alya Nazir (Sair Khan) once called out Max for spending so much time with Griff.
She then threatens to call his employer and Griff responds by warning her that she'll regret it if she does go through with it.
Later on, he makes out that he was attacked by four Muslim lads before getting Max to upload a video of his injuries with racist commentary.
How far will he go?
Will he react to Maria's idea?
Tune in to ITV to find out.
