Obituary: Geoff Webber, councillor

A former Mayor of Harrogate, he represented the Bilton and Nidd Gorge areas and sat on the council’s audit committee, Harrogate and Knaresborough constituency committee and the corporate and partnerships overview and scrutiny committee. He was also a member of a number of internal working groups and consultative bodies.

He was originally elected to the county council in 1993, serving until 2001. He was then re-elected in 2009, serving until 2013, and again in 2017. He was also a Harrogate Borough councillor until 2011.

A strong supporter of the Harrogate Homeless Project and Bilton and Woodfield Community Library, he led a campaign to save Harrogate’s Royal Hall from being mothballed as it fell into disrepair. He was made an honorary alderman of Harrogate in 2011 in recognition of his long service.

Before public office, he had a 32-year career in the RAF which took in a tour of the Falkland Islands. His final posting was at the former Ministry of Defence establishment in Harrogate, where he settled with his wife, Pat, and three sons, and later opened a classical and jazz music shop called Pomp and Circumstance, first in Wetherby and then on to Commercial Street in Harrogate town centre.

He is survived by Pat and his sons, the eldest of whom, Matthew, has followed in his father’s footsteps as a councillor on Harrogate Borough Council.