PHILIP Whitelegg, who has died at the age of 98, recorded almost 50 years of service on Bournemouth Borough Council and served as its mayor.

His long service resulted in him being made a freeman of the borough, while the Redhill to Ensbury Park bypass was named Whitelegg Way in his honour.

Philip Whitelegg was born in Sale, Cheshire, in 1917, and lived in Llandudno from 1924-37.

He moved to Bournemouth and ran Philip Whitelegg and Son estate agency in Winton, becoming a fellow of the Valuers’ Institution and president of Bournemouth Chamber of Trade.

From 1941-46, he served in the Royal Army Service Corps.

Philip joined the Conservatives and became a councillor for Redhill Park at a byelection in 1953.

On Bournemouth council, he served as chairman of the fire brigade, housing and transport and works committees.

As chairman of housing, he was proud of resisting the pressure to build high-rise blocks as the quickest way of dealing with a housing shortage. He became an alderman – the title for a senior councillor, since abolished – in 1965.

In July 1966, he was the first Bournemouth mayor to welcome a reigning monarch on an official visit. During her tour of the town, the Queen met his daughters Sandra, who had appeared on television’s Top of the Form, and Anne, who presented the monarch with a bouquet.

Cllr Whitelegg introduced several new mayoral functions and organised a charity event at the Winter Gardens featuring Morecambe and Wise. His charity work also led to him meeting RAF hero Sir Douglas Bader and former Allied ground forces commander Field Marshall Earl Montgomery.

Throughout his council years, he would enlist his daughters to help deliver his election addresses. He had little time for hobbies, but was president of Winton and District Light Opera Society and of the Talbot Nursing Cadet Division of St John Ambulance.

Philip was expelled from the Conservative Party after standing against their choice of candidate and served as an independent from 1974, continuing to top the poll in every election but one. He was later joined on the council by his daughter, Anne Rey, who was initially a Liberal Democrat but later an independent.

Alongside his service to the borough, he served for 19 years on Dorset County Council.

Philip stood down from the council at the 2003 elections, a few months short of a half-century.

At a surprise party thrown by then-mayor David Baldwin in advance of his retirement, Philip said: “I’ve had a very happy career. It will be a big wrench when I leave.

“When you’ve spent over half your life on council affairs, it’s really part of your blood.”

After leaving the council, Philip continued to write letters to the Echo, producing them on the typewriter he had used for decades. He still had it in his room at Sunrise Senior Living in Westbourne, where he died peacefully last weekend.

Philip, whose wife Dorothy died in 1979, is survived by his daughters.

He will be given a civic funeral on Friday, December 4, 11.30am, at St Peter’s Church in Bournemouth town centre, before a private family service at Bournemouth Crematorium.