HUMAN rights campaigners in York have called on the council to halt plans to permanently ban blue badge holders from the city centre - and urged them to rebuild trust with the disabled community.

York Human Rights City Network spoke out yesterday after a City of York Council Labour motion on improving access to the city centre for disabled people was amended by Green Party councillor Andy D’Agorne - with Labour councillors saying the amendments meant the motion had “lost anything of any substance”.

The motion had called for extra benches, mobility scooter parking bays and better pavements.

Labour voted against its own motion on Thursday night - but the altered motion was approved by a majority vote.

The human rights network said it was “a matter of great regret” that the council members supported a resolution that “in our view fails to take into account its human rights obligations”.

The network set out a series or recommendations to the council, urging it to: freeze plans to make the current situation permanent; acknowledge that some city-centre Blue Badge parking will need to be reinstated to meet the needs of disabled residents who cannot use alternatives; and set up a working group to assess the Footstreet Scheme and consider how to balance the rights of York’s disabled citizens.