Tributes paid to 'formidable' former council leader

Andrew DeFreitas served as a councillor in Great Grimsby and North East Lincolnshire for 50 years

Tributes have been paid to a former leader of North East Lincolnshire Council who has died aged 79.

Andrew DeFreitas served as a councillor for 50 years and was made an MBE for his services to the community in 2015.

Mr DeFreitas, a Liberal Democrat stalwart, also served on the Humberside Police Authority and the Humberside Fire Authority.

He was described as "a master in the council chamber" and "a community champion" by current mayor Steve Beasant.

"He was respected on every side of the chamber, by members of all parties, and he was a champion not just for his ward but for the whole of the borough," said Mr Beasant.

Mr DeFreitas was also a member of the Friends of People's Park group and helped to secure £2m of funding for the restoration of the Victorian park.

'Passionate and formidable'

He was born in British Guiana and moved to the UK in 1962, working in an accounts department.

He moved to Stallingborough in 1963 and went on to be elected to what was then Great Grimsby Council six years later.

Mr DeFreitas was elected to the new North East Lincolnshire Council (NELC) in 1996, becoming leader in 2004 and again in 2006.

He also served as deputy mayor in 2017 and 2018 but stepped down due to personal circumstances before he could take up the role of mayor.

After standing down as a councillor in 2019, Mr DeFreitas was granted freedom of the borough.

Rob Walsh, chief executive of NELC, said: "There was no one more passionate and formidable.

"As a ward councillor, representing his beloved Park Ward, there was no one more driven and tenacious."