Milton Keynes Development Corporation
Encyclopedia
Milton Keynes Development Corporation was established on 23 January 1967 to provide the vision and execution of a "new city", Milton Keynes
, that would be the modern interpretation of the Garden city movement
concepts first expressed by Ebenezer Howard
60 years earlier. Situated in the north of Buckinghamshire
near the borders with Northamptonshire
and Bedfordshire
, it would be a "city in the trees" the planning guideline was "no building higher than the highest tree". The aims that MKDC set out in "The Plan for Milton Keynes" implied that the designers would learn from the mistakes made in the earlier new towns and build a city that people would be proud to call their home. On that date, the area within the designated area was home to some 40,000 people in the existing towns and villages. It was placed where it would have a direct road (the M1) and rail link (the West Coast Main Line
) with the English capital city, London
, and the second city Birmingham
; both 50–60 miles away.
. Design guidance was weakened and subsequent built environment
developments are considered barely distinguishable from the anonymous suburb
s of other towns and cities around the UK. Conversely, the "river valleys, water courses and extensive landscape buffers within Milton Keynes provide a good example of how environmental assets can be integrated into new development." The natural environment is under control of the Parks Trust and continues to be one of the major attractions to living in the city.
Most recently, Milton Keynes Partnership reviewed the height restrictions applied to all buildings in Milton Keynes, which has resulted in an end to the "no building taller than the tallest tree" policy and high-rise buildings have begun to be developed. Most notably within the Central Milton Keynes
boundary, buildings are now being built to a height of 12+ storeys.
Milton Keynes
Milton Keynes , sometimes abbreviated MK, is a large town in Buckinghamshire, in the south east of England, about north-west of London. It is the administrative centre of the Borough of Milton Keynes...
, that would be the modern interpretation of the Garden city movement
Garden city movement
The garden city movement is a method of urban planning that was initiated in 1898 by Sir Ebenezer Howard in the United Kingdom. Garden cities were intended to be planned, self-contained communities surrounded by "greenbelts" , containing proportionate areas of residences, industry and...
concepts first expressed by Ebenezer Howard
Ebenezer Howard
Sir Ebenezer Howard is known for his publication Garden Cities of To-morrow , the description of a utopian city in which people live harmoniously together with nature. The publication resulted in the founding of the garden city movement, that realized several Garden Cities in Great Britain at the...
60 years earlier. Situated in the north of Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
near the borders with Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...
and Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire is a ceremonial county of historic origin in England that forms part of the East of England region.It borders Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Northamptonshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the south-east....
, it would be a "city in the trees" the planning guideline was "no building higher than the highest tree". The aims that MKDC set out in "The Plan for Milton Keynes" implied that the designers would learn from the mistakes made in the earlier new towns and build a city that people would be proud to call their home. On that date, the area within the designated area was home to some 40,000 people in the existing towns and villages. It was placed where it would have a direct road (the M1) and rail link (the West Coast Main Line
West Coast Main Line
The West Coast Main Line is the busiest mixed-traffic railway route in Britain, being the country's most important rail backbone in terms of population served. Fast, long-distance inter-city passenger services are provided between London, the West Midlands, the North West, North Wales and the...
) with the English capital city, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, and the second city Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
; both 50–60 miles away.
Founding Fathers
Following publication of the Draft Master Plan for Milton Keynes, the government appointed Lord Campbell of Eskan ("Jock" Campbell) to chair the board of the new Development Corporation. For the critical local consultation period, Walter Ismay became the Corporation's first Chief Executive. He added Richard Llewellyn Davies, Walter Bor and John de Monchaux, who produced the overall development plan, with its grid pattern of distributor roads at roughly 1 kilometre (0.621372736649807 mi) intervals. When the planning enquiries were over, it was time for a different type of CEO and Fred Lloyd Roche took over in 1970. Lord Campbell was succeeded by Sir Henry Chilver in 1983.Closure
The Government wound up MKDC in 1992 after 25 years, transferring control to the Commission for New Towns (CNT) and then finally to English PartnershipsEnglish Partnerships
English Partnerships was the national regeneration agency for England, performing a similar role on a national level to that fulfilled by Regional Development Agencies on a regional level...
. Design guidance was weakened and subsequent built environment
Built environment
The term built environment refers to the human-made surroundings that provide the setting for human activity, ranging in scale from personal shelter and buildings to neighborhoods and cities that can often include their supporting infrastructure, such as water supply or energy networks.The built...
developments are considered barely distinguishable from the anonymous suburb
Suburb
The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...
s of other towns and cities around the UK. Conversely, the "river valleys, water courses and extensive landscape buffers within Milton Keynes provide a good example of how environmental assets can be integrated into new development." The natural environment is under control of the Parks Trust and continues to be one of the major attractions to living in the city.
Most recently, Milton Keynes Partnership reviewed the height restrictions applied to all buildings in Milton Keynes, which has resulted in an end to the "no building taller than the tallest tree" policy and high-rise buildings have begun to be developed. Most notably within the Central Milton Keynes
Central Milton Keynes
Central Milton Keynes is the central business district of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England and a civil parish in its own right.The district is approximately 2.5 km long by 1 km wide and occupies some of the highest land in Milton Keynes...
boundary, buildings are now being built to a height of 12+ storeys.
Further reading
- "New Towns" Academy Editions London (1994) ISBN 1-85490-245-8 reprinted from Architectural Design Magazine.
- an MIT OpenCourseware` lecture by Professor John de Monchaux, one of the original lead design consultants for Llewellyn Davies (from Archive.org, as no longer available from MIT)
See also
- Development CorporationDevelopment CorporationIn England and Wales, Development Corporations are bodies set up by the UK government and charged with the urban development of an area, outside the usual system of Town and Country Planning in the United Kingdom...
s - New townNew townA new town is a specific type of a planned community, or planned city, that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed in a previously undeveloped area. This contrasts with settlements that evolve in a more ad hoc fashion. Land use conflicts are uncommon in new...
s - List of planned cities
- Energy WorldEnergy WorldEnergy World was a demonstration project of 51 low-energy houses constructed in the Shenley Lodge area of Milton Keynes, United Kingdom. The project was promoted by the Milton Keynes Development Corporation and culminated in a public exhibition in August and October 1986 that attracted...