North Yorkshire Council pays tribute to ‘excellent’ councillor who served for more than two decades

Labour, Conservative, and Independent members of North Yorkshire Council have remembered and paid tribute to “excellent” former Labour councillor David Billing who served on Scarborough and North Yorkshire County councils.

Cllr Billing, who was born in Scarborough on May 10, 1950, served on Scarborough Borough Council for almost two decades and was a county councillor between 1985 – 2009 and again from 2013 – 2017.

Speaking at the annual general meeting of the newly formed North Yorkshire Council, the former mayor of Scarborough, Cllr Eric Broadbent said: “Thank you for the opportunity this morning to pay our respects to passed member, David Billing.

“I know that many of you knew David well, not only as a colleague but as a friend.

“I worked on both Scarborough Council and North Yorkshire County Council with David for more than 20 years.

“David studied psychology at Bedford College in London before returning to Scarborough to work at Scarborough Hospital as an administrator.”

Cllr Broadbent added: “He was someone who could always be relied upon to give good advice and was highly respected by all officers and politicians of every persuasion.

“He will be sadly missed by all of us that were privileged to know him and we all grieve David’s passing and a life well lived.”

Conservative Cllr Derek Bastiman, a member of the authority’s executive committee, said: “David Billing was one of the nicest councillors that I ever had the pleasure of working alongside.

“He was never overly political when in a meeting scenario and always took the common sense approach in arriving at decisions and that’s something I think we can all learn from.

“You may be surprised to learn that after one meeting I’d been out with David and he invited me to one of his surgeries, which was in the Trafalgar public house.

“As you might imagine, as the night went on, the debate got more interesting.

“He was an excellent county councillor and also an excellent Scarborough Borough Councillor and his passing is a great loss to the residents of Scarborough.”

Also speaking at the meeting on Wednesday, May 17, Cllr Sam Cross, an Independent, said: “When I first joined Scarborough Borough Council, it may have been political, but David always did the best on behalf of his residents.

“If we talk about what it’s all about, honesty and integrity, David had both honesty and integrity and I am very pleased to have worked with such an excellent councillor.”