Plans to hike parking charges by up to 130% have been blocked.

Wednesday evening’s special meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Commission was arranged after the Lib Dem and Conservative groups each submitted separate motions to ‘call in’ the council’s proposals to raise the costs of parking permits in Wimbledon and Raynes Park.

During the meeting Cllr Anthony Fairclough, proposer of the Lib Dem call-in, challenged the plan for its "failure to follow the council’s set equality assessment process."

“When particular groups are likely to be disproportionately affected by the council’s actions it is absolutely essential that those groups are given a voice in that decision”, Cllr Fairclough said.

“That clearly did not happen here. I am pleased that councillors from all parties on the commission were able to hold the council to account for failing to follow its equality process.”

The commission voted to refer the proposal back to the council cabinet to carry out an equality assessment.

This is the first time a call-in decision has ever been successful against a Merton Council administration.

The Conservative call-in was not successful however.