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.
