FORMER Mayor of Wellington and Taunton Deane Cllr Bob Bowrah has died.

He lost his battle against cancer yesterday (Saturday).

Mr Bowrah was a councillor for 20 years, representing Wellington West and Rockwell Green at town level and on Taunton Deane Borough Council.

He was chairman of Wellington Town Council between 2004 and 2006, was Mayor of Wellington in 2016 and Mayor of Taunton Deane in 2009.

He also chaired Wellington Town Council emergency planning committee and Taunton Deane planning committee, as well as being a member of Tenants Services Management Board, which represents Taunton council house residents.

He was a member of the Basins Volunteer Group, Metro Champion and Monument Champion for Wellington and Armed Forces Member Champion for Taunton Deane.

He was was also the Deane representative on the Board of Directors of Taunton Bowling Club.

Mr Bowrah was married for 50 years to Elizabeth, who was originally from Taunton, and the couple have three grown-up children, Joanne, Nick and Andrew.

He served in the Army for 27 years and was awarded the British Empire Medal in 1980.

An entry on the Taunton Deane Conservatives website said: "Bob is a conscientious councillor who is a 'worker' and is critical of those councillors who you only see or hear when there is an election looming.

"When you contact Bob he always replies and does his best to solve problems or will pass you on to the right people who can help."