My husband, Roy Darke, who has died aged 85, was a town planning lecturer and Labour councillor in Sheffield and later in Oxford. He championed ordinary people having a voice in how their communities developed. Roy pioneered public participation in planning while a lecturer at Sheffield University from the late 1960s to the 80s, when the city was radicalising as part of the New Urban Left, with David Blunkett leading the city council.
The impact of Thatcherism on South Yorkshire drew us both into the Labour party in the early 80s. Roy became a city councillor in 1990, and when chair of finance helped the city to recover from from the socially successful but financially disastrous World Student Games.
Born in Evesham, Worcestershire, the youngest of the six children of Harry Darke, a car mechanic, and Edith (nee Rose), a housewife, Roy grew up in modest circumstances in a churchgoing family. At Prince Henry’s grammar school, Evesham, he acquired a mild reputation as a rebel, quitting the church choir and listening to jazz, but he excelled at rowing.
Interested in design, Roy wrote to a young Terence Conran, who took him on as an office boy. Roy subsequently studied at the progressive Bartlett School of Architecture (now the UCL Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment), gaining a BSc in 1964 and an MSc in 1966. We met there and our deep bond saw us through the bumps of a 60-year relationship. Co-writing a book, Who Needs Housing? (1979), was challenging, as was designing and building our own house in Oxford 20 years later.
We had moved to Oxford in 1994 to take up two posts in the school of planning at Oxford Brookes, and soon became active in the local Labour party. Roy became a city councillor from 2002 to 2004, and from 2009 to 2016. He was known for his support for colleagues and for his persistence and integrity. We both campaigned regularly in local elections and for the local MPs, Andrew Smith and then Anneliese Dodds.
Roy was a man of many interests. For 28 years we volunteered at Kelmscott Manor, the home of William Morris, who was an influence in many ways, and Roy worked to protect the heritage asset of Marston water meadows on the Cherwell. He also collected wood engravings and we sang in a choir. He always maintained a work-life balance, and enjoyed family life with our children and grandchildren.
He is survived by me, our sons, Tom and Adam, and our grandchildren, Martha, Marcus, Jude and Esme.
