CONTROVERSIAL parking charges across Ascot and the Sunnings have been temporarily put on hold. 

The proposal put forward by the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead would have seen the two free hours in the Queen’s Road car park in Sunninghill, the A30 London Road car park in Sunningdale and High Street, Ascot, scrapped from April 4, to the disbelief of infuriated villagers.

The new parking tariff will mean that drivers will have to pay £1.50 to park for two hours or 50p with a Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Advantage Card, with other charges remaining the same. 

But opposition and an active petition surrounding the charges in Maidenhead means the council have decided not to implement the charges in Ascot and the Sunnings until the consultation is over.

Ascot chairman of the Windsor District Chamber of Commerce, Jeremy Davies, said: "While we welcome any delay all they are doing is postponing something that is going to happen anyway, so we are not solving the issue at all.

"Certainly the feeling from both from the general public and the business community is that the introduction of charges is going to be a negative step for Sunninghill High Street - there are already three empty premises.

"I can't see that they are going to make much from the charges, so it seems to me a stupid exercise. It is going to alienate business and a lot of shoppers, it only takes for them to come to Sunninghill once and see the charges and not come again. 

"The council seem keen to keep council tax down but seem happy to sacrifice the villages."

Sunningdale resident Duncan Rayner said: "One of the main objections to these charges must be that if as expected people start to abandon the villages and do their shopping in Bracknell and Camberley where there is ample free parking, the pitiful amount raised will be eclipsed by the initial costs of implementation – new signage and machines – and the ongoing costs of policing the parks and collecting the charges. 

"If RBWM told us that it would raise many thousands of pounds and this would be ploughed back into the villages then things might be different."

Cllr Bathurst, councillor for Sunninghill and South Ascot, said: "I am pleased to be able to report that these will not now be implemented immediately, as first proposed. There will instead be a short delay of about two months. This time will allow us to consult with local residents as well as the business community and the parish councils. 

"Feedback from this will be used to adjust the parking charges to make them as fair as possible and to maximise convenience to residents."

A petition to scrap the charges is currently live on the council's website.