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Jan 2023
Tributes paid to ‘larger than life’ former Ripon and Harrogate mayor
Tributes have been paid to former Ripon councillor and mayor Bernard Bateman, who died last week.
Mr Bateman represented Ripon North for the Conservatives on North Yorkshire County Council until 2017 after first being elected in 1999 as a Liberal Democrat.
He stood for the Liberal Democrats in Skipton and Ripon in the 2001 general election, coming second to the Conservative David Curry.
He was also the Conservative member for Wathvale ward on Harrogate Borough Council until last year and is a former mayor of both Harrogate and Ripon.
Councillors observed a minute’s silence at a meeting in Harrogate yesterday evening.
Mr Bateman served as chairman of the county council in 2013/14 and was granted honorary alderman status.
Director of Wolseley Hughes
Before entering local politics in North Yorkshire, Mr Bateman had a career in business and was a director of Wolseley Hughes Plc in Ripon.
He also helped create the World Plumbing Council, which has worked with the World Health Organisation to install safe water supplies and drainage systems in some of the world’s poorest countries.
Mr Bateman was awarded an MBE in 1989 for services to industry.
Cllr Mike Chambers, Harrogate Borough Council’s executive member for housing, said:
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Conservative councillor Sam Green won the Wathvale seat on Harrogate Borough Council in a by-election last year after Mr Bateman stepped down.
Mr Bateman with Cllr Sam Green. Pic credit: Cllr Sam Green
Cllr Green paid tribute to his “friend and political mentor.”
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