Tributes have been paid to Kirkby Malzeard councillor Margaret Atkinson, who has died.
Cllr Atkinson represented the Fountains and Ripley ward on Harrogate Borough Council, which she was elected to in 2018.
She was also recently re-elected to North Yorkshire County Council and was appointed chair of the authority this year.
Conservative leader of the borough council, Cllr Richard Cooper, described her as “the kind of person who lifted a room”.
He said:
“It was such a shock to learn of the sudden passing of Margaret.
“It is hard to imagine a council without her unfailing cheerfulness. She was just the kind of person who lifted a room somehow.
“I know too that she was admired and respected in the communities she represented – a real champion of the farming community.
“The thoughts of all her colleagues are with her husband Mike and their family at this time.”
North Yorkshire County Council’s leader, Cllr Carl Les, said:
“Margaret’s passing is such sad and tragic news, and a huge loss to not just the county council, but North Yorkshire as a whole.
“Margaret’s passion and drive for the county was second to none, and she embraced the role of the council’s chair with the verve and integrity that she became renowned for.
“She was very interested in all the people and groups she met, especially those in the rural communities we serve, as she came from those communities herself, and was a great champion of rural affairs.”
Cllr Atkinson was elected to the county council for the first time in 2013, where she represented the Masham and Fountains division.
Read more:
- ‘Tough cookie’ Masham councillor becomes final chair of county council
- ‘No plan or intention’ to sell Starbeck Baths, says council
She retained her seat at the local elections in May this year.
The same month she was appointed as the last chair of the county council before it was due to become North Yorkshire Council.
Being appointed chair of the county council this year.
She was described by her colleagues as a “tough cookie” ahead of her appointment.
Fellow Conservative county councillor Cllr Nick Brown told the Stray Ferret she would be sorely missed.
He said:
“She was hugely respected in her area and she was a hard working and determined lady who did good things for her constituents.
“She will be badly missed.”
A life in farming
Cllr Atkinson was a semi-retired farmer and also the secretary of the Yorkshire and North-East branch of the British Charolais Cattle Society.
She was also a member of the Yorkshire Agricultural Society and the Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty’s joint advisory committee.
Born into the well-known Stockil family, her grandparents had farmed at Kiplin and Brompton-on-Swale. She grew up on a farm at North Stainley, near Ripon, with three older brothers and a younger sister.
Initially working in the accounts department at ICI Harrogate, she then attended agricultural college and set up her own agricultural secretarial business, providing services to farming communities across Yorkshire.
Through her charity work, Cllr Atkinson supported cancer research, the Yorkshire Air Ambulance and a farming charity, the Addington Fund.
Cllr Atkinson, who lived in Kirkby Malzeard, near Ripon, leaves a husband, Michael, three children and five grandchildren.
