Veteran reporter Adam Trimingham is to be made an honorary freeman of Brighton and Hove in recognition of his services to journalism and the city.

Adam, (61), is set to retire from The Argus in Brighton next month after 30 years at the paper and 44 years in regional journalism.

He will be the first journalist to be given the title by Brighton and Hove City Council.

The surprise announcement was made during a council meeting which Adam was covering, and is the highest honour the council can bestow.

Adam said: “I was amazed. It was the last meeting I was going to cover at Hove Town Hall so I knew they might say a few words as I’ve been going there for the past 37 years, but this was a total surprise and I was highly embarrassed.

“I had no idea this was going to happen – it is the first time the council has given the honour since Brighton and Hove merged seven years ago. I feel very humble.”

The status of freeman will be officially awarded at a special council meeting in September, following a unanimous vote by councillors, with the support of all four party leaders.

The announcement of the honour comes in the same week as Adam was made the subject of early day motion tabled by Labour MP David Lepper, and signed by several other MPs.

The parliamentary petition congratulated Adam on his “years of reporting on life in Sussex in a career marked by the highest standards of professional integrity”.

And in a separate development, Brighton and Hove Bus and Coach Company has announced it is to name a bus after Adam.

He said: “That will just be for a year – the honour is usually reserved for people who are dead and I don’t intend to fulfil that for some time!”