A proposal was passed in September by Buckinghamshire County Council, where Stoke Mandeville is located, backing a regular lighting ceremony at the Paralympics' birthplace.

The campaign has now got the support of Chiltern District Council, who have joined Aylesbury Vale District Council in unanimously passing a motion backing the proposal. 

"When one thinks of the benefits to Buckinghamshire as a whole, and by extension to Chiltern, it seems absolutely right we should do this," Liberal Democrats group leader Peter Jones, who proposed the motion, told the Bucks Free Press.

"If the Olympic Flame is lit on Mount Olympus every four years [sic], it seems Stoke Mandeville would be a jolly good place to have the Paralympic torch lit every year."

Unusually, the idea is supported by all political parties. 

They want Stoke Mandeville, where Sir Ludwig Guttmann sowed the seeds of the Paralympic Movement in 1948 by organising an archery competition for his spinal cord injury patients, to become as symbolic to the Paralympics as Olympia is to the Olympics.

The Olympic flame of the modern-day Games is lit by reflection of sunlight in a parabolic mirror in front of the Temple of Hera in Olympia and then transported by a Torch to the place where the Games are being held.

The motion follows a successful lighting ceremony at Stoke Mandeville Stadium for London 2012.

"Few of us can fail to have been inspired by the Paralympics, watching people overcome very significant disabilities to take part in their chosen sport," said Conservative Andrew Garnett, who seconded the motion.

"This will recognise the importance of the Paralympic Movement and put it on a par with the able-bodied Olympics."

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