BLACKPOOL Councillor Leader George Bancroft BEM JP has lost his brave fight for life.

The 66-year-old councillor, who had been Leader since July 2000 and previously Deputy Leader from May 1991, died on Wednesday lunchtime at Blackpool Victoria Hospital, where he had been recieving treatment for a number of weeks.

A Labour councillor, he was elected to serve Brunswick Ward on Blackpool Council in May 1987.

He had previously served as a councillor in the Oldham area for five years in the early 1970s.

He moved to Blackpool with his wife, Hilda, in 1979 and the couple had two sons and a daughter.

Councillor Bancroft, who lived in Holmfield Road, Bispham, was a railway worker throughout his working life and continued to take a keen interest in transport issues even after he retired.

British Rail nominated him for the British Empire Medal (BEM) for Services to the Community and he was awarded this in the New Year's Honour's List of 1992.