A FORMER member of the European Commission (EC) who lived in South Lakeland has died peacefully, aged 93.

Sir Christopher John Audland, who had three children and two grandchildren, moved to Milnthorpe in later life and held roles with the Lake District National Park Authority and the National Trust.

Mr Audland was born in 1926 in Wiesbaden, Germany, where his father was in the British Army of Occupation. He served in the Royal Artillery between 1944 and 1948, and thereafter began serving the global community in various posts, which took him to Europe and further afield.

He worked for the British Embassy in Washington DC between 1955 and 1958, where he was involved in discussions about a new form of international management for Antarctica, which led to the signature of the Antarctic Treaty by 12 different states in 1959.

He then served the British Embassy in Buenos Aires between 1963 and 1967, and was involved in discussions related to Argentinian claims on the Falkland Islands.

In January 1973, he switched from being a British diplomat to a career with the European Commission, moving to Brussels, Belgium. He served as deputy-secretary general between 1973 and 1981, and as director-general of energy between 1981 and 1986. Following the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in Ukraine in 1986, he was appointed general rapporteur on Chernobyl affairs.

After retirement to Milnthorpe in 1986, Mr Audland became involved with local heritage and conservation matters, serving the Lake District National Park Authority and also the National Trust.

In 1987, he was appointed honorary advisor to the trust on European affairs, a post in which he remained for more than a decade. During this time, he helped to create a closer relationship between the charity and the European Commission.

He was pro-chancellor of Lancaster University between 1990 and 1997, during which time he was heavily involved in bringing the Ruskin Library on the university campus to fruition.

Mr Audland began writing his biography - ‘Right Place, Right Time’ - in 2000. It was published in 2004.