Tributes paid to former borough mayor and North York Moors National Park stalwart Herbert Tindall

North Yorkshire County Council and the North York Moors National Park Authority are set to hold silences to honour Esk Valley member Herbert Tindall, who has died aged 86.

Mr Tindall was also a former Mayor of Scarborough Borough and Honorary Alderman.

Mr Tindall had been a long-serving member of both the Scarborough authority and North Yorkshire County Council as well as being a member of the North York Moors National Park Authority for many years.

Mr Tindall was among the longest serving members of the park authority and became its vice-chairman, the chairman of the county council’s Yorkshire coast and moors committee as well as a member of the jury and foreman of the historic Danby Court Leet manorial court.

Jim Bailey, chairman of the North York Moors National Park Authority, said: “Herbert knew the place that became the national park better than anybody, in fact he was a part of the place.

"He was also a wonderful advocate for the work of the national park, a true local custodian. The place was his life.”

As an elected Tory representative, Mr Tindall did not always follow his party’s line and refused to shy away from controversies.

When the councillor found himself at the centre of a row between the Magpie fish and chip restaurant in Whitby and the county council over queues on the resorts pavements, he set about brokering a solution under the glare of the national media.

However, friends and colleagues said they would best remember Mr Tindall for his love of the moors and in particular the Danby area.

While commenting on a study in 2006 which found Danby had the longest life expectancy in the area, Mr Tindall said: “It’s a wonderful place to live.

"We are not only surrounded by some of the most magnificent scenery in Britain but we are to a great extent a self-sufficient community.”

During the foot-and-mouth outbreak in 2001, Mr Tindall offered farmers hit by the virus “sympathy and support” to connect them back into the community,

And a few years later when the moors became threatened due to under-grazing, he highlighted how “sheep act as lawnmowers”, saying the heather moorland would “disappear under silver birch and conifers”.

Describing Mr Tindall as “a character” who always put the interests of his community first, Cllr Carl Les, leader of North Yorkshire County Council, said: “He had a wealth of knowledge about his part of the world and was a thoroughly nice bloke.”

Fellow Conservative councillor David Jeffels, the park authority’s longest serving member, added: “Herbert was an outstanding champion for the national park, especially; for the protection of its famous flocks of blackfaced sheep and his campaign to see more houses built for local residents and to clamp down on second homes.

"He was so highly respected not only by the park authority officers and members, but by the park community as a whole, for his common sense. Herbert worked hard and effectively for what he believed in.”

His funeral service, held on Friday at St Hilda’s Church, Danby, had standing room only.