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| Lord Bruce-Lockhart dies aged 66 | Lord Bruce-Lockhart dies aged 66 |
| (21 minutes later) | |
| English Heritage chairman and former Local Government Association leader Sandy Bruce-Lockhart has died in hospital, aged 66. | |
| Lord Bruce Lockhart, who had also been the Conservative leader of Kent County Council, had cancer. | Lord Bruce Lockhart, who had also been the Conservative leader of Kent County Council, had cancer. |
| LGA chairman Simon Milton said local government would be a "poorer place" without him. | LGA chairman Simon Milton said local government would be a "poorer place" without him. |
| English Heritage, where he had been chairman for the past year, praised his "great contribution". | |
| They credited him with securing "a major breakthrough in our plans for Stonehenge, convincing ministers that a new, affordable scheme was worth government backing". | |
| 'Urbane charm' | |
| Kent County Council leader Paul Carter said he would be "enormously missed" and described him as charismatic and "the leading architect of the transformation and improvement in local government in recent years". | |
| "He proved that beneath his urbane charm and courtesy lay his conviction and determination to deliver what he believed was right," he said. | |
| National and local politicians from across the political spectrum will miss Sandy's zest for life, his courage and his determination to fight for what he believed was right for people Sir Simon MiltonLGA Chairman | |
| "His knighthood and subsequent peerage were just rewards for the significant contribution he made through local government and the Conservative Party nationally." | |
| He came to Kent in 1968 to farm, having run farms in South Africa and Australia, and entered politics in 1989 - when he said during the Channel Tunnel route discussions that he wanted to make sure rural Kent was preserved. | |
| Knighted in 2002, he was made a life peer in 2006 and took on the chairmanship of English Heritage in August 2007. | |
| His successor at the LGA, Sir Simon Milton, said: "Local government will be a poorer place now that Sandy has passed away. | |
| "National and local politicians from across the political spectrum will miss Sandy's zest for life, his courage and his determination to fight for what he believed was right for people. | |
| "His strong social conscience, wonderful sense of humour, and a passionate commitment to public service offered a template for all politicians from whichever party to aspire to." |