Bob Towner obituary

Bob Towner publicising a campaign to increase uptake of housing benefit Photograph: none

My friend Bob Towner, who has died aged 81, was York city council’s housing and social services director in the 1980s and 90s.

I got to know him when I was MP for York, writing letters to his department on behalf of constituents with housing needs, and soon learned he was an innovative local government officer with a commitment to empowering tenants – the best I have ever worked with.