A COUNCILLOR who has served his community for 50 years is to be made a freeman of the borough of Blaenau Gwent.

Councillor Rex Herbert, who represents the Beaufort ward, will become only the fourth person to receive the freedom of the borough in the past decade.

The two Blaina firefighters, Stephen Griffin and Kevin Lane, who were killed in 1997 as they rescued a child from a burning house, were given the honour posthumously.

And it has also been awarded to John Tunley, of Ebbw Vale, for his outstanding services to music.

Labour Councillor Herbert, who is 75 and lives in Beaufort Hill, with his wife, Valmai, said that he was very pleased to be nominated.

"It is very nice to be recognised by your own people," he told the Argus.

Councillor Herbert was first elected to Ebbw Vale urban council in 1952, and has won a total of 17 elections - though he intends to stand down at the next election in two years' time.

He has been chairman of the Ebbw Vale council and mayor of Blaenau Gwent twice. Councillor Herbert says the most significant change he has seen during his time as a councillor is in the environment.

"Back in the 1950s there was hardly a tree in this area. But in the past 50 years there has been a vast improvement in the natural environment. The Valleys are blooming now."

He added, however, that he had seen a decline in social standards and that there is no longer any respect for authority or for the elderly.

He was demobbed from the army in 1948, and then became a teacher at Ebbw Vale Technical School, later becoming deputy head. In 1976 he became head teacher of Beaufort Hill Junior School, until he retired in 1985.

He has also been superintendent of the Sunday school at Bethel Presbyterian Chapel, in Beaufort.

Councillor Herbert will be given the Freedom of the Borough at a ceremony at the civic centr