A TRIBUTE has been made following the death of a former leader of the Wokingham Borough Council (WBC) recently.

Frank Browne, a Henley resident and former leader of the Wokingham Borough Council, passed away in his home, leading to a tribute being issued from former colleagues in the Wokingham Conservative Association.

David Edmonds, Wokingham Conservative Association chairman, said in a statement: "Wokingham Conservative Association is greatly saddened to hear of the death of Frank Browne, former Leader of Wokingham Borough Council who passed away at home recently.

"Frank cared very deeply about improving the lives of residents throughout Wokingham and in his capacity as Leader of Wokingham Borough Council made an extremely valuable contribution to our community.

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"Our thoughts go out to his friends and family at this difficult time.

"Frank Browne was first elected to Wokingham Borough Council in 1996 as the Conservative member representing Remenham and Wargrave.

"In 1997 he became leader of the opposition and Frank became the youngest council leader in the country when the Conservative group regained control of the council in 2002.

"As leader, Frank tackled multi million pound overspends, re-established solid financial foundations, trebled reserves and re-instilled a rigorous financial discipline into the organisation and contributed to Wokingham Borough being recognised as having the best quality of life in the country in 2007.

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"Frank will be missed hugely as he was a good friend and supporter of Wokingham Conservative Association for many years.

"He served as our Deputy Chairman for Policy and Campaigning from 2010 to 2012 and again from 2018 to earlier this year.

"Frank was a seasoned campaigner with a successful election record at local and council wide campaigns.

"He also led and supported numerous parliamentary and European campaigns including working on the 2017 and 2019 General Election campaign, Boris Johnston's Mayoral campaign and the 2008 Obama Presidential campaign in North Carolina."