SURREY County Council has been accused of giving in to "undemocratic" and "vociferous" pressure groups at the expense of local residents, after it scrapped controversial parking proposals in Haslemere.

Many residents again attended a meeting of the county council's Waverley Local Committee meeting, last Friday, to ask questions about residents' bays and more yellow lines in the town.

The proposals were initially approved in a meeting of the committee, chaired by councillor Pat Frost, on March 16, but were called in by council leader David Hodge in May, "in view of the strength of feeling among local people".

Although residents universally spoke out against the council's plans for pay-and-display measures – eventually dropped by the county in March – this time the council's decision to nullify all the proposals was itself criticised as "too broad in its scope".

For full story, see this week's Haslemere Herald.