The Cabinet at Lichfield District Council has reversed on a proposal to start charging blue badge holders for car parking.
Plans had been drawn up to become the first authority in Staffordshire to implement such charges.
But there had been opposition from Staffordshire County Council who said such a move “could result in more on street parking” with “impacts on congestion and traffic flow”.
However, Cllr Colin Greatorex told a meeting of the Conservative Cabinet that blue badge holders did not expect free parking.
“We should charge for blue badge parking,” he said. “The residents’ survey showed that people supported such a move.
“Disabled does not necessarily mean poor and blue badge holders don’t expect to be given free parking and treated as second class citizens.”
But the Cabinet were told that Staffordshire County Council could raise formal objections to the introduction of any charges, delaying a wider raft of changes to car parking charges.
As a result the recommdation was made not to introduce charges for blue badge holders.
Cllr Mike Wilcox, leader of Lichfield District Council, said: “We will hold off on this but will look again at the implications to see if it something we may want to do in future.”
A final decision will be made at a meeting of the full council later this month.
