FORMER Middlesbrough Mayor and council leader Walter Ferrier has died, at the age of 90.

He served the Thorntree ward for six decades, having first been elected in 1954 and bowing out in 2011.

He also had a five-year spell between 1968 and 1973 out of office, but other than that his time as a councillor for Thorntree was unbroken and he is the only recorded person to hold the same ward in the town for 38 years consecutively.

Cllr Ferrier was awarded an MBE in 1984 for services to local government, and in 1992 was given the town's highest civic honour, the Freedom of the Borough.

Two years later, in 1994, he was presented with the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany - an honour rarely accorded to anyone outside Germany - which recognised his work to forge links between Middlesbrough and its twin town Oberhausen.

Vice Chair of Middlesbrough Council, Cllr Bob Brady said: “I first came to Middlesbrough in 1963 as a youth worker and Walter was chair of the Thorntree Youth Club management committee.

“My main memory of him will be of all the things he did for the young people of this town such as bringing us youth clubs, organising exchange visits and many other things – he was the ideas man for the youth service.

“He was also a very, very kind man, considerate and a very popular councillor for the Thorntree ward.”

Cllr Ferrier's involvement in politics dates back to 1949 when he joined the Labour League of Youth and he first became a councillor in 1954.

He served on Teesside County Borough Council and Cleveland County Council as well as Middlesbrough Council. He was a chairman of Cleveland County Council and a leader of Middlesbrough Council. He was the borough’s mayor in 1974-75.