A FORMER Teesside town planner and war veteran whose impassioned argument against Brexit attracted national attention ahead of the referendum, has died aged 98.

Architect Franklin Medhurst, known as Frank, of Greystone, Carlton near Stockton, was involved in the ‘Teesplan’ regional planning blueprint of the 1960s which aimed to create a Tees City.

He died at North Tees Hospital on Sunday, July 15 following a stroke at home the previous week.

Mr Medhurst grew up in the West Country and served in the RAF during the Second World War, receiving the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC).

He later trained as an architect, making the North-East his home in 1965. He moved to a house called Greystone in Carlton, near Stockton, where the author George Orwell once lived.

Mr Medhurst came to Teesside to work on the new Teesside Survey and Plan project, known as ‘Teesplan’, an in-depth survey of the greater Teesside region including south Durham and the former North Riding of Yorkshire. From the River Tees north and south, it considered urban and rural towns and villages, roads, railways and ports; industries, income, economic trends, health and mortality rates and ideas included enhancing the historic High street buildings in Stockton and the lanes around Castlegate and the River Tees. It also proposed building a Tees barrage and promoting Redcar as a modern leisure area.

Mr Medhurst was controversially sacked from the Teesplan project team because of his opposition to some ideas supported by some local councillors and he believed he was a victim of

Mr Medhurst wrote a book about his Teesplan days, called A Quiet Catastrophe.

Much more recently, he spoke against Brexit ahead of the vote, arguing that the EU was imperfect but far better than the conflict of the Second World War. After writing about this in a letter to The Guardian newspaper, he again made the headlines locally and nationally, and appeared on Channel 4 News.

Mr Medhurst took part in a cycle ride in memory of the murdered Labour MP Jo Cox. He used a special tricycle after losing one of his lower legs in old age.

He is survived by his second wife, Jenny, who lives in Carlton, along with children and grandchildren from his first marriage.

Robbie MacDonald, a friend and former Cleveland reporter for the Darlington & Stockton Times newspaper, interviewed Mr Medhurst in the early 2000s. At the time, Mr Medhurst said the Teesplan issues remained “unfinished business”.

Speaking this week following Mr Medhurst’s death, Robbie, who currently lives in Greater Manchester but retains regular links with Teesside, said: “I first knew Frank as a family friend in the 1980s. Over the years, I got to know him better and was interested in many of the issues as he – architecture, planning, enhancing local and regional politics, and championing the role of towns and smaller cities in England.

“In my view, many of the Teesplan ideas raised by Frank Medhurst remain as relevant today as the 1960s and 1970s. I think progress has made in some aspects, such as a better appreciation of town planning, local architecture and heritage; and the environment. I also think the demand for regional devolution is exciting, including the growth of regional parties such as the North-East Party and the Yorkshire Party.

“Frank Medhurst made important contributions to architecture, environmental and politics, and to Teesside and north-east life. While his death is sad news, I believe his work, ideas, values and interests remain very much alive in the 21st Century.”

Among those who paid tribute was long-serving Teesside local Councillor, David Walsh, now on Redcar and Cleveland Council, but who in the 1980’s was Chair of Planning and Development at the now abolished Cleveland County Council.

He said “At the time I met a lot of first class, imaginative planners and architects who had worked under Frank Medhurst and who were still trying to put his ideas into practice.

“Frank, as I knew from the talks I had with him, was a guy who knew his job, but who was not listened to by those in power at that time.

“If they had, Stockton High Street would be a conservation area - not a concrete jungle on the eastern side.

“We would have proper governance too.”