Duncan was born in Darlington and spent his early years here and in Bishop Auckland, moving to Cumbria in 1969. He is married with 2 daughters and a son. Mr Fairbairn has been a County Councillor for 11 years, has been on Allerdale Borough Councillor for the last 5 years and has been a parish councilor for 36 years. Mr Fairbairn has been with 2 parishes, but mostly with Aitkon PC. During the mid 90's he was Chair of Aikton PC and during this period brought into the parish £16500 to provide footpath/bridgeway furniture and three footpath pamphlets.

As a County Councillor Mr Fairbairn covers the parishes on the Allerdale/Carlisle & Allerdale/Eden Boundaries, all rural; they all have Footpath/Bridleway issues. Duncan spent many years in Financial Services and now works in Business Services.

Recently Mr Fairbairn has fought for and won a Safety Report on the Hadrian's Wall Trail and gained some finance for some of the safety measures outlined in the report.