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“Milton
Keynes is considered to be one of
the most successful large-scale development
projects ever undertaken in England,
delivering homes, jobs, facilities
and services to create a balanced
community.“
So say English Partnerships. Now celebrating
its 40th year, Milton Keynes has enjoyed
continuous population growth, from
65,000 in 1970 to 210,000 today, creating
60,000 new households. It hosts 7,200
employers and has been rated 5th out
of 48 UK cities for overall business
environment. Coutts Bank has recently
opened a new branch in Milton Keynes
in response to research suggesting
the city is ‘a haven for the
millionaires of the future’.
But all is not well in Milton Keynes.
A battle is brewing, two armies gathering.
Demonstrations have been held, websites
launched, letters written. At first
glance it appears to be a traditional
case of developer vs nimbies but closer
examination reveals a more profound
ideological debate, with potential
implications for new homes throughout
the UK.
In line with current government policy
the developers and their (London-based)
architects are applying the traditional
European city model
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and
whipping up a veritable ‘urban
renaissance’, complete with Hubs,
High Streets and a dense new Centre.
Long-term residents and the original
design team are outraged. They argue
Milton Keynes was, is and always should
be a decentralised city, a suburban
city, a forest city, “greener
than the surrounding countryside”.
Creating a dense centre in this centre-less
city not only destroys its fundamental
character but threatens to bring rush-hour
gridlock to the famously traffic jam-free
streets. As citizens in a continuously
growing city they are not averse to
ongoing development, as long as it adheres
to the original suburban city plan.
This suggests a certain disparity, in
Milton Keynes at least, between how
people want to live and what they are
offered to live in.
As the Government launches its Green
Paper stating its intention to deliver
2 million houses by 2016 it seems useful
to re-examine this newest of New Towns.
Just what is it that makes Milton Keynes
so different, so appealing?
Milton Keynes has developed within a
robust framework, a universal grid,
distorted by the local topography with
a hint of the picturesque.
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