Sir Simon Milton Foundation launched

A charitable organisation named in honour of former Westminster City Council leader Sir Simon Milton will be launched tonight.

The Sir Simon Milton Foundation aims to secure £3m in donations to help young people get into work or training and help older residents feel cared for while living independent lives.

One of the flagship projects for the foundation's activities in 2013 is to have a proposed University Technical College named after Sir Simon, who died from leukaemia in April 2011. At the time of his death, Sir Simon, knighted for his services to local government in 2006, was serving as London Mayor Boris Johnson’s chief of staff. He also served as chairman of the Local Government Association in 2007.

Cllr Robert Davis, deputy leader of Westminster City Council and Sir Simon’s civil partner, will say: ‘Simon always recognized that the City of Westminster gave his father – an émigré from Nazi persecution – both a home and an opportunity.

‘Throughout his political life, Simon was absolutely intent that Westminster should always be a place that brought out the potential in the young and provided comfort and reassurance to the old. The Foundation captures that spirit and I believe is carrying that inheritance on through practical schemes that deliver opportunity on the ground.’

Foundation Chairman Sir Peter Rogers is due to say: ‘We want to raise £3 million to put into schemes to support the young and the elderly. We’ve already made a good start with pledges of up to £150,000, and we are now inviting individuals, the business community and other interested organisations to help us.’

‘As the prime minister David Cameron said at the time of Sir Simon’s tragic death, Sir Simon was a doer, not a talker – this Foundation is going to be all about doing.’