PLANS to bring other Cheshire East towns in line with Crewe by scrapping free parking have been ditched.

The proposals would have seen motorists parking on council-run car parks in Middlewich, Alsager, Holmes Chapel, Sandbach and other towns facing a trip to a parking machine.

But councillors at Cheshire East Council's highways and transport committee voted by eight to five against the proposal to go out to public consultation on the charges yesterday (Tuesday).

The decision was greeted by applause and cheers from the public gallery at Macclesfield Town Hall, where the meeting was held, and speaking afterwards Middlewich councillor Mike Hunter told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "It is dead in the water.

"It does present us with problems down the line budget wise – we have got to find £1m – but, at the end of the day, as you can tell from the people that were in this hall and the amount of people that were against these parking charges, it's a victory for residents, not just in Middlewich but in Alsager and Holmes Chapel and other places around Cheshire East, and that's what matters.

"We're here about the residents. It's not party, it's residents. Town before party."

Earlier, during the meeting, Cllr Hunter had pointed out that parents used some of the car parks in Middlewich to pick up their children from school. He said they would not pay to park for the school run.

Wilmslow councillor Don Stockton asked why the council had not done the review on a town by town basis instead of proposing a standardised charge across the borough.

"Standardisation is not the way forward in my mind," said Cllr Stockton.

He added: "Parking isn't just about car parking charges, it's about the vitality of the towns, it's about the fact that when people try and avoid car parking charges they'll just go and park on the street outside someone's house and the residents will get upset."

He was applauded by the public when he said he couldn't support what was proposed and that each car park and each town should be considered on its own merit.

Committee chair Craig Browne told the meeting there was a cost to providing car parks and "those who use the service should be the ones who pay for it".

In towns such as Crewe, Nantwich, Macclesfield, Knutsford and Wilmslow drivers have paid for years to park.

Crewe councillor Hazel Faddes said: "I fully support this consultation."

But Willaston and Rope councillor Allen Gage said he did not back the consultation. He later told the Local Democracy Reporting Service he wanted to see the introduction of charges on free car parks in the north of the borough to produce a net reduction on charges for Crewe and Nantwich.

"If they're going to introduce car parking charges in the north, where there's a lot of free car parks there, it's only fair that historical legacies are addressed in the south," said Cllr Gage.

"We've been paying over the odds, so I would like to see the levy in the north help to subsidise the south. That's only fair. We should be even across the board, which would bring the net down because we're not charging more."

The recommendations, which had been put forward by the Labour/Independent administration, would have seen all towns and villages pay the same rate on paid-for council-owned car parks.

A zonal charging scheme would have been introduced.

Cheshire East now faces a headache as the authority had banked on the extra charges bringing in more than £1 million.