Jubilant campaigners have spoken of their delight at the decision to scrap plans to introduce parking charges across North Ayrshire.
They described the vote as a “victory for the people”.
Owner of Dino and Sons Tom Biondi said: “I am happy, delighted and quite emotional about it all.
"My business would have closing down had this gone ahead. Most of the council have seen sense and listened to us but some councillors can’t see the wood for the trees and they know they could be voted out at the next election.
“Overall, between Kilwinning and Saltcoats, there must be about 12,000 signatures on the petition.
“Some of the councillors attended a meeting we had at Kilwinning and they heard it loud and clear that the public don’t want town centre parking charges; so many families would have been affected.
“We are still disappointed at the lack of communication from the council. These guys must be held accountable. I feel they have discriminated against Irvine, Kilwinning and Saltcoats for a number of years, but now it's time to batten down the hatches and get on with running our businesses."
GPM Properties business owner Graeme Millken added: “We didn’t know what the outcome would be but at least the councillors have listened to the people. The campaign has taken a lot of days of our work up.
"If we hadn’t stepped in and done this it would have gone ahead regardless. This was only highlighted through a newspaper article by yourself. We have to challenge the council on anything we feel strongly about."
North Ayrshire Council depute leader Shaun Macaulay said: "That was a decision and the council took it and we are supporting it.
“That was why we put it back to the council who will now work out the implications of it. This was used as a political football which I suppose is people’s democratic right. It’s not going ahead and we have to make it work.”
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