A final decision on controversial plans to extend a city park and ride has been deferred.

Canterbury City Council was due to have a final say on the Wincheap plans this evening, but the issue was unexpectedly deferred after questions arose over points of order.

Lib Dem Cllr Nick Eden-Green raised several issues regarding protocol.

He said a relevant agenda supplement was not supplied to councillors within the required time frame of five working days, and that the council planning website has been inaccessible on several occasions.

There was no legal officer present at tonight's meeting, which Cllr Michael Dixey branded "totally out order".

After a 20-minute adjournment, council chief executive Colin Carmichael, who is versed in local government law, said he was confident there had been no breach.

But he added that councillors may wish to defer the decision to be completely certain.

Neil Baker, Conservative councillor for Tankerton, said: "We want to make our decision based on facts, and we need to know that those facts are based on law.

"At the moment there is no legal officer here.

"Rather than have a party political debate on this and waste everyone's time, can we not join together on this for one time, on behalf of everyone here in the district, and say we're going to go away and get proper legal answers, then come back and have a proper informed debate?"

Councillors voted in favour of deferring the issue until a later meeting.

If Canterbury city councillors had voted through plans tonight, Wincheap park and ride would have been extended onto an area of water meadow by the River Stour.

Members of the public turned out in full force at Canterbury's Guildhall tonight to protest the proposal.

At a packed-out meeting on Tuesday, the council's planning committee narrowly voted through the plans, which were due to be rubber stamped tonight.

Chaos ensued on Tuesday, as a fire alarm was set off, leading to a mass exodus in which councillors were allegedly verbally and physically assaulted by campaigners.

The plans have sparked immense backlash ever since they were devised.

The decision, which woud extend the council-owned park and ride by 220 spaces, has been blasted as a total contradiction to the authority's recently-declared climate emergency.

But those who support the plan say it will have a positive environmental impact by reducing the amount of city centre traffic.

Head to our politics page for expert analysis and all the latest news from your politicians and councils.

Read more: All the latest news from Canterbury