Maidenhead & Windsor

David Lunn, who retires after 40 years in local government on Friday (February 29), is to receive the Royal Windsor and Maidenhead Borough's highest honour.

The Windsor and Maidenhead council has agreed to grant him the Freedom of the Royal Borough in recognition of his 'eminent services' during 25 years with the council, the last 12 of them as its chief executive.

Cllr Leo Walters, Mayor of the Royal Borough, said the honour was conferred only rarely, and elected members believed that David's unique and passionate contribution to the council and to the community deserved to be recognised in this way.

He said: "David's passion for the Royal Borough, its citizens and councillors and his immense leadership skills have guided the authority through major changes and provided a larger-than-life figurehead when the council often found itself in the national and international spotlight.

"Conferring the borough's freedom is not something the council does lightly. David is only the 14th person to be honoured in this way – a reflection of the high regard in which he is held and a well-deserved reward for his service to our community."

A lawyer, David joined the Windsor and Maidenhead council as borough secretary in 1982 and became chief executive in 1996, playing a key part in shaping the Royal Borough as a unitary authority in 1998. He was awarded the OBE in the Queen's Jubilee Honours for his contribution to tourism both here in the borough and nationally.

David joins an elite list of honorary freemen, including the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales, Sir Nicholas Winton, who saved more than 600 Czechoslovakian children during the German invasion of Sudentenland, and England rugby world cup coach Sir Clive Woodward. Freedom has also been conferred on five Army regiments with close associations to the Royal Borough.

The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead