JOHN Meikle, Taunton's longest lasting and most influential and respected political figure in the modern era, has died.

Mr Meikle, who served as a councillor for 58 years, passed away peacefully at Nynehead Court residential home yesterday (Wednesday). He was 97.

Such was the stamp he left on the area during his time as a local councillor that the debating chamber at the Deane House was named The John Meikle Room during his lifetime.

John Meikle was born in Okehampton in March 1923 and spent ten years at Taunton School.

During the War he served in the Home Guard and as a Royal Naval officer was involved in the disastrous Dieppe raid.

After the War, he joined the Western area Young Conservatives and was a member of the organisation's national committee. He was introduced to Winston Churchill on four occasions.

Mr Meikle married Audrey Hallett in 1948 and the couple had two sons and a daughter.

From 1954 to 1957, he was chairman of Taunton Conservative Association and the following year he was elected as a councillor for Wilton ward on Taunton Town Council.

As chairman of the council planning committee, he resisted Government attempts to foist high rise housing on the county town and rejected pre-war layouts on local housing estates.

He served a term as Mayor of Taunton in 1967, during which period he oversaw four projects - Taunton Council of Voluntary Service, Abbeyfield housing, a Voluntary Services Overseas committee and loneliness among the elderly.

He was leader of Taunton Deane Borough Council from 1974 to 1991.

He was instrumental in introducing floodlighting at every church across Taunton Deane in 1980 and also persuaded the council to plant thousands of daffodils on the roadsides in the district.

Mr Meikle delighted in telling people he halted street sweeping in the area in the 1980s - and two years later saw Taunton judged the second cleanest town in the UK.

His tireless efforts were rewarded in 1988 when he was made an MBE for services to local government.

In 1999, Mr Meikle came up with a simple but successful plan to convince more people to sign up to the organ donor register.

He was responsible for a scheme which saw organ donation forms sent out along with council tax demands.

His brainchild was used by other councils across the country, resulting in 700,000 new volunteer donors on the national register.

In 2004 he was made a Freeman of the Borough of Taunton Deane, an honour granted to only a handful of recipients.

Perhaps his proudest initiative was raising money for a 350-seat theatre and arts centre in Taunton - The Brewhouse - and helping recruit 400 volunteers to get it up and running.

In 1959 he became managing director of the family firm of H. N. Hickley & Co Ltd.

He served as president of Taunton Rotary Club in1976, was on the committee of Flook House Youth Club and a member of the High Sheriff's working party.

Mr Meikle played an important role in discussions about the future development of Taunton, putting forward views for his Vision for Taunton, later renamed The Taunton Project.