A Liberal Democrat councillor who represented Kew for 12 years until 2002 has died following a long illness.

Jill Miller, who served on Richmond Council from 1990-2002, was born in 1944 and spent much of her childhood in the Far East with her army officer father.

She met her first husband, Rob Miller, in South Africa, and later settled in Kew, where she immediately became a member of the pioneering Kew Liberal Recycling Group. In the 1980s she set up and ran one of the borough's first after school schemes and, with her second husband, the late Tony Barnett, she was among the first in the UK to campaign for urgent aid to Africa.

During her time on the council, she played a key role in establishing Richmond as one of the country's greenest areas.

Richmond Council leader Serge Lourie paid tribute to Jill: "I served as a councillor in Kew for many years will Jill Miller, who was a joy to work with. She was a passionate servant of local residents and always went that extra mile to ensure that their concerns were appreciated and dealt with."

She passed away on April 19, having battled against an illness that left her progressively paralysed over the last six years of her life. She leaves two daughters, Joanna and Pheobe, who is expecting her first child later this year.

Jill's funeral will be held at Mortlake Crematorium, at 3pm, on April 26. Her family has requested that any donations be sent to one of Jill's favourite charities, Oxfam.