PAY-and-display parking at Wey Hill’s free fairground car park moved closer when Waverley executive backed plans to deregister the area as common land.

But members were warned relying on a “rubbish” site owned by Waverley across the railway line at Sun Brow as a suitable swop for loss of common land, was “a joke”.

Councillor David Round urged the executive to defer the de-registration application to the Secretary of State and consult with residents first. He said: “Waverley tried this six years ago and met a lot of public resistance and shelved it. We should wait for Haslemere’s neighbourhood plan.

“There are suggestions the site could be developed into an eye-catching multi-use development with parking underneath. Let’s see if residents want that to happen.

“Waverley will have to be careful it doesn’t become a laughing stock with the land swop. It’s partly used as a tip and it’s plainly not equivalent.

“You need mountaineering skills to get on it, it’s so steep. Frankly, it’s a joke.”

Executive members agreed, however, the time had come to “regularise” the site, and de-registering it as common land and making it pay and display, would not preclude a more ambitious development in the future.

In 2012, a similar plan triggered a storm of protest. A public inquiry was due to be held after more than 230 objections were made and Waverley agreed to shelve the scheme to allow residents to come up with an alternative.

Haslemere Vision, which is drawing up a neighbourhood plan, proposed ‘Wow Hill’, a piazza-style development with shops, residential and parking.

Waverley’s economic development portfolio holder Jim Edwards, disagreed the land swop was a non-starter and told the committee Natural England agreed it was a suitable equivalent.

Mr Edwards said: “The area designated common land has been used for free parking for several decades.

“It is no longer of any ecological value or use as common land.

“The surface needs constant repairs. We need to regularise it and identify another area. If de-registraion is not pursued it will be in an even worse situation. It may take several years for an alternative development to evolve.”

Leader Julia Potts said: “We’ve got to do something.

“We are six years down the line and no further forward. Businesses in Wey Hill are suffering because there is nowhere to park.

“There may be other aspirations but de-registration is a sensible first step.”