SHOPPERS will be able to park free in Waverley car parks on the two Saturday afternoons before Christmas after a council U-turn this week.
President of Haslemere Chamber of Trade Melanie Odell said it was "excellent news".
Free Christmas car parking on the two Saturdays before Christmas had been in place since 1992 but was scrapped by Waverley's ruling Conservatives in January to save £20,000.
The original decision, opposed by Liberal Democrats on the council, angered Haslemere Chamber of Trade and other organisations that had helped establish the parking concessions.
Andrew Brownrigg, the then president of the chamber of trade, had handed in a petition signed by 200 shoppers as a protest in March this year.
Now shoppers will be able to park free in all 35 Waverley car parks between 2 pm and 6 pm on Saturday, December 15 and Saturday, December 22. These include Haslemere town centre, Chestnut Avenue and Tanners Lane car parks.
At the Waverley executive committee meeting this week, councillors heard a report by Waverley officer Peter Maudsley which said: "As a result of approaches from the Waverley business community and listening to individual business people it would be clearly advantageous to them to have a period of free car parking prior to Christmas."
A joint statement from John Sandy, portfolio holder for environment and Pat Frost, portfolio holder for business liaison said: "Waverley is supporting businesses in the borough and responding to requests by providing free afternoon parking in the run-up to Christmas so that shoppers can use this opportunity to buy their presents locally in the wide variety of shops and markets on their doorstep."