THE House of Lords has voted against a proposal to throw out controversial parking charges in Richmond and Bushy parks.

It leaves the way clear for The Royal Parks to impose charges of up to £2 per visit for visitors who drive to the parks.

Former Liberal Democrat MP for Richmond Park, Baroness Jenny Tonge, proposed the unsuccessful motion to axe the charges.

But Conservative peers refused to support it, opting instead for amendment calling on the Government to rethink its decision to allow the parking fees. The two parties had claimed they wanted to work together to block the charges, but in the run-up to the debate, came to blows over what parliamentary process would be most affective.

Richmond Park MP Susan Kramer backed the unsuccsessful motion, which she said was the only way to put a stop to the charges, but this process has only been successfully been used three times and the last time was in 1974.

Her Tory opponent at the next election, Zac Goldsmith, said he had spoken to members of the House of Lords, who told him the motion would not be backed as the Royal Parks' proposals contained non-controversial elements and they did not want to be seen to be 'micro-managing' the parks.

He said he was happy with the vote. "It is a great result; the very best that was possible, and it will be difficult for the Government to ignore it. We all know that Kramer's idea could never have worked. It was a gesture designed to fail to that her party could score political points."

He said that a Conservative Government would scrap the charges.

Ms Kramer said: "I am deeply saddened that our bid to stop these charges once and for all has failed. I know local people will join me in sadness a the loss of our chance to hold the Government to account and stop these charges in their tracks. I have been proud to campaign side by side with so many local people to stop these charges, and up until this point, on a cross-party basis. I want assure local people that I will continue to fight to make sure their voices are heard and the plans are stopped."

Thousands of people put their name to petitions against the plans, which were announced in January 2009, and about a thousand joined in a rally to protest against them in January 2010.

The Liberal Democrats' fatal motion was voted down by 48 votes to 71. The Conservative motion was passed by 136 votes to 71.