TRIBUTES have been paid to Conservative county councillor Tom Veitch who has died at the age of 57.

Cllr Veitch was elected to represent Cranbrook on KCC in 1997 and was re-elected as a Tunbridge Wells borough councillor only last month.

He held a variety of positions on KCC and was appointed last year to the Conservative cabinet where he had responsibility for corporate services. In his time as a county councillor he served on a number of key committees.

He was vice chairman of the social services committee at a time when KCC was facing severe budget pressures and coping with the asylum seeker crisis.

He was passionate about education and was a staunch defender of grammar schools, chairing the campaign group Support Kent Schools. He was also a governor of Cranbrook School.

Although he was born in Falkirk in Scotland, Cllr Veitch lived in Tunbridge Wells virtually all his life. He was an old boy of Skinners School and an Oxford graduate and had a long career as a merchant banker working for various City firms. He was also a director of a number of public companies both in the UK and America.

County council leader Cllr Sandy Bruce-Lockhart said: “Tom was universally respected at County Hall and across his constituency. He was a close friend to many of us, huge fun to work with, a source of wisdom and a tower of strength to us all.”

Labour opposition leader Cllr Mike Eddy said: “He was an extremely able and committed politician. He was also very straight. When he told you ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to something, you know that he meant it.”

Cllr Veitch was married to Bridget for 28 years and had three children, sons Zachary, 24, and Sam, 21, and a 22-year-old daughter Helen.

The funeral will be a Requiem Mass at St Dunstan’s Parish Church, Cranbrook, on Wednesday, June 19, at noon followed by a private cremation.