A DECISION by Waverley Borough Council to call a halt to allowing free Saturday sessions in car parks in the run-up to Christmas has been branded as "outrageous and undemocratic". The traditional Christmas present to shoppers, to encourage them to shop in towns in the borough, has been abandoned after a decision taken at a private meeting. Last Christmas shoppers in Farnham enjoyed two half days of free car parking on the Saturdays leading up to Christmas, on the busiest trading days of the year. The president of Farnham Chamber of Commerce, Jeff Toms, said he was "extremely disappointed". "The town needs to attract as many people as possible for the benefit of the whole town and in particular the retailers, at what is a critical time for them. "The new Christmas lights have made a really attractive improvement and other planned activities will, of course, help; however, free car parking may certainly have encouraged people who may not have chosen to visit the town and a favourable visit at Christmas would probably lead to future visits," said Mr Toms. The decision, which took many councillors on the Lib Dem-controlled council by surprise, was taken under delegated powers following a private briefing with members of Waverley's decision-making executive committee and the director of environment and leisure, Peter Maudsley. The leader of the minority Conservative group on Waverley Borough Council, David Harmer, heard the news from The Herald and said he was "outraged by the undemocratic decision". "I was not aware that it has been discussed at a public meeting. This is a new development; the council is not run on a democratic basis any more," declared Mr Harmer. "I recall the Lib Dem manifesto was for openness. What kind of openness is this? We will have to consider the constitutional position of the council," said Mr Harmer. On the day after the Confederation of British Industry predicted that this year would be the worst Christmas for 10 years, Mr Harmer said: "I would say it is a bad decision for the economy and urban centres in particular. It is bad for the economy of Waverley and bad for council tax payers as well." Mr Maudesley blamed the decision on Waverley's "huge budgetry deficit in excess of a million pounds" and "enormous funding difficulties". He told The Herald that problems the council faced included the burden of taking on more responsibilities devolved from government, including licensing laws and ever stricter recycling targets. The borough council is likely to benefit to the tune of thousands of pounds of extra revenue because of the decision. "Giving away Christmas parking is singularly unattractive," believed Mr Maudsley. "Who else gives anything away free in goods and services at this time of the year?" he asked. Mr Maudsley also believed the half-day free car parking was confusing to shoppers and was often used instead by shopkeepers and their staff, leaving shoppers with nowhere to park. "It was done in my best judgement and I believe my judgement is right," added Mr Maudsley. The leader of the Lib Dems, Chris Slyfield, put the blame on previous Conservative policies, which he claimed left a black hole of £7 million when his party came to power last year. "They didn't raise council tax as they should and did the same for car parking charges, meaning we have lost money year on year," claimed Mr Slyfield.