Building a City From Scratch - The New Town of Milton Keynes (1967) 

I still live here, first generation born in my family here, mum was a child when she moved here from London, first residents in Netherfield 😂 I live on the horizon the gentleman at the end in the village of Whaddon was talking about, very sad how poor the planning now is for the City

@gilly5094 I agree. I haven't been to the city centre shopping in years but Queen's Court did have that enormous waterfall in the middle where you could stick your feet in. Market was always a bit shabby and never really ventured in unless it was for the infamous jacket potato stall! I went to look for my old house in Broughton Gate and honestly couldn't locate it at all. It was on the main road from the M1 down towards Wavendon, behind Tesco but no chance as there is now another estate built! My parents are in Newport and they are now building from J14 right down into the town! Even a bridge has been built. It's utterly ridiculous how big its become

@@gilly5094been here since 1979 lived in eagle stone was the best childhood I ever hadL now in 2023 it’s a shithole. I now live in Bletchley so a slight step up.👍🏻

@@gilly5094Yep it’s totally changed now I’m afraid. The Centre looks like a lot of shopping centres now…..empty! The market area now looks like I’ve got off a plane in a far far away country that speaks anything but the English language! The estates that were bad back then are now even worse and l wouldn’t walk around at night in any of them without a shottie under me arm! Stoney Stratford now has so many empty shops where they’ve gone out of business it’s very sad ☹️

They expected it to have a population of 250,000 by the year 2000. So ten times that would be 2.5 million

Glad to see some people at least have some positive memories. Bletchley seems to be getting a little more attention of late as the new platforms get built for East West Rail perhaps being a more important rail link will help its fortunes, but I remember a decade or so ago when I went to college there thinking it looked run down and depressing. Luckily there are a few slightly further out villages like Woburn Sands which have a thriving high street and their own culture while still being conveniently close to the city. They were definitely on to something with the main shopping centre, the marble and modernist design still looks pretty good and it's done better than some contemporaries in terms of footfall and anchor stores, despite the like of BHS, Woolworths, and Dickens and Jones/House of Fraser disappearing.

Our family moved here at the same time, 1985, and we loved it. Never lived in such a big house before, with a garden, surrounded by green space. It's not for everyone, if you love the concrete jungle MK is definitely not the kind of place you want to move to.

I question your description of Milton Keynes as "successful". Replacing a bucolic area with ugly generic housing and shopping centers? We have suffered so much of this in the US. You never get to go back, the peaceful areas are continually and permanently destroyed.

@@musicloverchicago437 Well it was successful in terms of what they set out to achieve, they achieved. I was contrasting it with Craigavon, which had grandiose plans to be the "city of the future", but turned out to be a disaster of urban planning. Its cause wasn't helped however by the N.Irish Troubles and the economic problems caused thereby. Urban sprawl is unfortunate, but England is one of the most densely populated countries in the world and people need to live somewhere.

@@musicloverchicago437 The original village of Milton Keynes is still there. MK is actually a thriving urban centre of 100 individual neighbourhoods. 90% of people live in about 20% of the official area, so it does still have , especially in the north, a rural feel to it and as some postwar new towns went, is generally regarded as quite successful as Rachel said. British housing is constrained by land issues so it probably looks claustrophobic to American eyes, but we are more creative with that space and house designs than the US I think. Generic, perhaps, but it's been that way for centuries, like the huge number of Victorian streets in the UK, regimented yes, but built to last and far more prized than modern houses. However all things are subjective

@@salus1231 milton keynes only success is that people dont not live there.

It's all about the deliberate social genocide of Britain enacted by Blair and Brown with Labour. There was no need whatsoever to have unlimited, unfettered, irresponsible immigration policy unless it was by design. Btw The NHS has had more money in the last 23 years than the previous 50 combined. What does that tell you??

How can we have an issue with homeless when the whole World is trying to live here? I don't know to be honest. I'd have thought we had unlimited resources and space for them. I mean, it's not as if we're a small and overcrowded island or anything, is it?

It certainly has its own character 🤣

I agree, the busses used to be better, when I went to secondary school in the 2000's the busses were more consistent, but halfway through college they cut the original route in half so I ended up having to take two busses to get from Bletchley to North MK, it just stopped being economical or practical to take the busses. My parents moved here in the early 80;s, first in Bletchley but eventually in the late 80's to a new build house, first one on the street while the others where still being constructed.

Jim, operating buses in MK has been incredible difficult for a number of reasons with plenty trying, getting their fingers burned and pulling out. The issue is the way that the incumbent operator has monopolised the super busy routes (that historically generated the profits to support the minor routes). However, that is changing. The Cllrs in charge of this subject now have a very good grasp of their remit and are working behind the scenes with bus fleets to try and address this. I can tell you all this is true from first hand experience of the subject. Bear with us.

I regularly run in to Bow Brickhill from where I work in Milton Keynes. It still is exactly how you’ve described it, lovely village!Although I imagine the city is a lot closer to it now.

120 sq miles. Big.

It seemed the way of the future at the time. Modern Milton Keynes actually has a decent cycle lane network though.

To be fair it is better than many other towns for pedestrians, each residential grid was supposed to be a convenient walking distance with a convenience store in each at the very least, and more substantial stores and amenities every few grids or so. I live in fair walking distance of the main shopping centre while a convenience store, pub, chip shop cum Chinese takeaway, vet, Indian takeaway, sandwich shop, barbers, fried chicken takeaway, GP, and pharmacy, are only a few hundred metres away. But while walking fully across the city may take ages, you at least only physically cross residential roads and either go under or over main roads, and if you choose to cycle you can go further but with those same advantages.

​​​​@@vylbird8014with homelessness people and knife wedding teenagers getting stoned in the underpasses that you have to go though if you cycle and they can be flooded also. online information.

You

People are never satisfied are they lol.

Essentially Money + Time. I work in web and 95% of the work is bland lego, The issue isn't a lack of desire to make interesting things but usually budgets, people don't want to pay and our company doesn't want to lose any profits, even if it may yield a better return in the future. I'd imagine it's similar in planning & construction. But def agree with your sentiment.

@@thehearingaid But what really makes it not add up is that the lego houses they build quickly and cheaply sell for well in excess of £250,000. It is such an ugly way to carry on.

They don't intend to live there and greed for them.

I gather it's not /as/ bad as it was. The problem stems from the very respectable nature of the planning: When it was set up the committees in charge would only approve those businesses which were seen as respectable and without controversy. A theatre guaranteed not to perform anything too vulgar, libraries under council control. Pubs, of course, but proper upper-class pups where the booze was pricy and no drunken brawls might happen. Proper social clubs, but no-where that the corruptible youth might be ruined by this dangerous 'rock and roll' stuff. Plenty of reassuringly expensive shopping places, but nothing that might lure in the undesirable poor, and no low-cost housing at all: This is not a city for the type or person that can't afford better. That was fifty years ago though, and though it took a few decades the city has diversified greatly since then. There are proper music places and clubs, and a respectable history of concert events. But still, it is perceived as a bit 'empty' for the lack of history. Maybe in another couple of decades.

@@vylbird8014 I agree. Milton Keynes is really a great idea. Keeping all the working class condensed in as small land mass as possible. Think of them like mini Croydons, but instead out in the countryside. I would however also suggest building more high rises in them because as my urban planning friend once said “build em’ up high”

"Nothing to do unless you like shopping". Are you serious? Except maybe one of the 2 cinemas, 3 BMX tracks, skateboard park, theatre, ice rink/ice hockey, several lakes & parks, sky diving simulator, snow ski slope, biggest running club in the country, football club, lots of local football & cricket teams, fitness centres, many pubs & clubs. If you cannot find something to do in that lot then firstly, there is something wrong with you, not the location & secondly, what else would you want?

The standard American model.

And a 10 mile cycle to everywhere.

"Daily stabbings"? They don't make the news because they're all in your f'ing head mate. lol

Spot on pal 👍

They live in fancy houses in Cotwolds so would they care? The power at be who design it, crap.

Thanks the greenery I sought after is not worth the violence high rents in one bed flat in those areas because of a low paid job being unskilled will only afford the bad estates cycling everywhere and getting attacked in the underpasses getting to work or shopping you have convinced me to not move there. Is Bletchley or nearby towns safer cheaper. Good luck sir.

I'm old enough to remember when Netherfield et al were brand new and they were really modern and attractive.

i think you're safe mate, a few hundred years should do it

@@phYT01 "We need a new town this size every 22 weeks". Well this new town has only taken 55 years. Probably need to speed things up a bit.

@@phYT01 I can assure you mass immigration will not stop. NO government is going to stand up to the wealthy 'elites' who are imposing it on us. Many houses in Milton Keynes (particularly in Bradwell Common, Conniburrow, Fishermead and Old Brook and many other areas) are HIMO's (houses in multiple occupation) where there are 6 or 7 adult men (or women) living in a small town house that was originally built for a small family of 2 adults and 2 children. These were all previously council houses that are now in the hands of private landlords. I am certain this is a nation wide problem and is getting worse each year.

I agree. Milton Keynes is really a great idea. Keeping all the working class condensed in as small land mass as possible. Think of them like mini Croydons, but instead out in the countryside. I would however also suggest building more high rises in them because as my urban planning friend once said “build em’ up high”

I hope some day you experience the profound disappointment of watching your beautiful and peaceful neighborhood destroyed by "progress".

Local houses for local people!

@@anonUK Yes, Tubs, yes

@@norepetitivebeats Is that a crown you're wearing? Is there a Swansea?

@@anonUK 🤣

👍

I think his point was that they were going to destroy farmland, whereas there were empty, barren fields unsuitable (presumably) for farming but otherwise suitable for construction just a little while away.

"A more suitable location"? About halfway between London & Birmingham (mentioned) & with good access to a busy railway line & motorway....exactly where Milton Keynes is.

For sure. Today they can do housing estates, and messing that up not uncommon, imagine them doing a whole town. Standards have slipped in all aspects in the UK. It just has.

​@@salus1231yeah, between York and Leeds we are seeing thousands of homes go up with no community centres, local amenities, etc. Carrying on the 60s dream of car owning suburbs.

There were a few years where that was a risk, new developers took over of the planning and "improved" Broughton by turning the original grid road into a traffic light infested "traditional" street with housing right up against the traffic, with barely any garden to speak of. It ends up being worse for pedestrians and worse for drivers at the same time.

Do they care in their Cotswolds homes?

And you can't have it back.

@@G1NZOU I've got a football club in Wimbledon

If you think it was bad then, you’ll be in for a shock if you took a drive around those areas now !

A “slum city”? What a load of wank.

It's an absolute shithole.

Yes, it happened. The city was a bit of a laughing stock for a few decades for it's lack of identity and culture, but once a generation of people grew up there and businesses were established beyond the 'committee of rich-white-men approved' starting point it became just another city like many others. Well, there is one legacy: The council is and always has been very strictly opposed to high-density housing. They put a height limit on residential buildings, discourage construction of flats, and keep houses big and expensive. Residences are composed entirely of rather expensive housing: If you can't afford it, you're not welcome there. Not coincidentally, it also has an unusually high homeless population for a city of its size.

Yes indeed, Superman IV. You can pretty much go to the locations with a photo of the scenes and hold it up and it looks the same.

Wow only that if it had an airport

1million visas signed by Tories per year 2022=within 3 years

@@minixtvbox it will help decentralisation from London. I got a business and need workers. Local lads are wasteful and do not want to work at all. Immigrants is the answer.

​​​@@LHRTWthey don't produce chavs also. Probably be safer as well. All the muggers i meet seem to be white English young males. I am white english male by the way and plasid..

easy to say when it’s not your entire life and community about to be descended upon by the government and it’s plans

😂😂😂😂😂

You get water filled underpasses, full of chavs, homelesspeople full of water when you cycle through them apparently, I don't drive.

@@jamescokl3 There was a short period a year or so ago when homeless wasters occupied some underpasses (with a multitude of tents) in the city centre, but they were cleared out after a couple of months. In over 20 years of cycling I have not seen a flooded underpass.

@@johnvine5731 No violent encounters cycling in the city? I heard its very rough. I am unskilled and live in Ashford Kent in a one bed council flat. Though about relocating, but i read online the estates where the affordable council flats, if that's true, flats I assume will be in no go areas. Some people said teenagers in underpasses attacked them as well. . Also how far will the work I have yet to find will be? I am a fairly fit cyclist but don't want to cycle for too far, though I will cycle 5 miles each preferably. I love the greenery of the place. Thanks for your reply. Good luck.

To go with the 200000000000000000000009000000 that are already there.

Have not been back and you quite liked it???

@@jamescokl3 - its 40 years ago - but I liked it back then :)

@@davewalker7126 sounds like a bad place to live though in every way, except the open green spaces.

Tell it, pal. With u.

Tell it, pal. With u.

YEP 👍

Bigot

Ah, you racists just can't help but reveal yourselves.

You see thatched roof, but the person who lives there sees 'high upkeep cost roofing material' and 'fire insurance demands an arm and a leg because you're living in a tinderbox.' Thatch roofs are beautiful to outsiders, but really impractical if you live under one.

You realise these villages are still there right? I can cycle to Milton Keynes village and see the thatched cottages myself and have a pint in the old pubs (like the Swan Inn, which happens to be thatched and from the 13th century) of any of these former villages. They demolished a few farms, but they kept a lot of the old areas. and incorporated them into the fabric of the new city. As well as leaving gaps in the built up areas like the Ouzel Valley Park, where you can see medieval fishponds, walk past sheep and cows grazing, or the North Loughton Valley Park, where you can see the remains of a Roman Villa, Bradwell Abbey, or any of the multiple lakes around the city. Don't believe what you've heard from people who's only experience with MK was a taxi ride or two, or just arriving at the train station and being pissed that they had to walk uphill to get to the shopping centre, just glimpsing the concrete area does not give you a true impression of MK.

​@@G1NZOUis it dangerous to cycle through mk underpasses.

@@jamescokl3 Not really, there are dodgy areas of MK but I wouldn't say the underpasses are dangerous, they're lit at night and they're short so they're not like a long tunnel. Worst thing you have to watch out for really is glass, but generally the council is fairly good at cleaning the pathways and the Parks Trust is good at pruning back bushes from the routes. A few pedestrians have been hit while attempting to cross the main gridroads at night, some of these roads have 70mph speed limits and aren't intended for pedestrian crossings, so drivers don't expect them, I'd say it's much safer to stick to the Redways.

@G1NZOU bless you, sir. Good luck. The council rents for the cheapest area are in bad areas. I hear where knife crime is bad. I had some bad experiences before in that situation. I didn't realise the stabbings were so bad in mk. Shame. I love the peaceful greenery. Are there any safer nearby towns? Again, thank you so much. I am not a teenager but a 54 year old but I could be a victim. Having unskilled work opportunities with limited wages to pay for higher rents in better areas is a problem guessing. Cheers again and be safe. Use that green stuff( forgotten name they put in innertubes) for glass. Slime, I think it's called, but there is a 90% chance you already know this. I until the last 5 years cycled everywhere flat out to where I need to go, and the fitness hasn't left me. Mk would have been ideal to start again.

The green belts were a terribly concieved idea, they do still exist though, mostly in the public imagination rather than policy though they affect policy making because building on the green belt is unpopular and approving any development of it is a fairly quick way for any local politician to get voted out of office. However the policy isn't quite what people think of it. It's certainly not a general protection of our best countryside. It came from a time when people were worried about towns merging together and losing their individual character and so designated areas around the edges of larger towns to prevent further growth of the town, so it was more about protecting urban character than it ever was about protecting rural character. The areas protected by green belt policy were often the worst parts of the countryside, criss-crossed by pylons and motorways and home to things like water treatment plants, substations, railway sidings, car parks, intensive agriculture, polytunnels and the like. What the policy ended up doing was encouraging growth away from the edges of established large towns and into smaller towns and villages. Not only did this lead to loss of areas of rural character but it pushed more people away from towns, created the soulless dormitory town, separated from the places where their inhabitants actually worked, shopped and played and contributed to increased car use and the need for yet more motorways and pylons to connect these distant developments to the towns. Places like Milton Keynes were not built in contradiction to green belt policy but rather were built as a result of green belt policy. The folly of the greenbelts was being recognised by planners already by the early nineties, but by then they had already taken hold in the public imagination and poiliticians were hell-bent on protecting these areas at all costs. As for reusing brownfield sites. Planners have been trying to get people to do that for decades but the politicians, the developers and the public simply don't want it. Middle class people turn their noses up at living in a place that used to be industrial and strive instead to live in the countryside. Residents of towns fight tooth and nail to prevent any new housing going up near them, which normally means brownfield development facing just as much local opposition as greenfield sites (not to mention some brownfield sites actually become important oases of biodiversity in towns, they may look scruffy and underused but nature doesn't care how it looks) Developers buy up all the land so that councils are held to ransom over the location of development, they buy brownfield and greenfield alike so that planners are faced with the choice between not having any new housing at all, or letting the developers build the housing where it will be more profitable, while politicians suck up to both groups.

I bet you're the type who lauds the mass, unquestioned immigration but constantly moans about houses & flats being built. You want unlimited people coming from everywhere but you don't want property built upwards. You don't want property built outwards. You don't want property built too close to other properties. All criticism but no solutions. Easiest answer, albeit too late, is to put a moratorium on all immigration for 5 years. Sort the mess out now. Get rid of the dross. Then re-commence limited responsible immigration. Still won't be satisfactory enough for you, will it?

You hear the term Green Belt almost every say in London

Actually people reconsider using abandoned factories all the time, you see it happening in Norwich where all the old industry used to be, the old Colman's factory has shut down and is still empty but some other wharf buildings have been repurposed or new buildings and student accomodation built to revitalise the area, we see it every time we come upriver into Norwich. However recent events have shown just how much extra thought needs to be put into repurposing old factories, they don't have the same fireproofing standards as modern residential builds, and if they're converted on the cheap the could end up another Grenfell. As for the Greenbelt, MK is in a perfect position to take daytrips out in any direction to enjoy the countryside and green spaces, there are so many great villages in easy distance, they planned it to be a tidy grid, that left areas outside the pre-planned expansion zones alone. And "not even a single blade of grass" is extremely dramatic considering Milton Keynes has literally thousands of trees, and acres of parkland due to its design. Perhaps you were telling the truth about one thing, and that's that you can't remember it.

Most people suckI agree.

Glasgow is the biggest dump

​@@LHRTWI hear its the go to city, hmm.

@@jamescokl3 English country side has become mostly a dump now. All oldies moved there. A tsunami of pedophilia cases coming to English courts

... Building no public housing in the last two decades of the last century... What could possibly go wrong?! ;-)

🔔 🔚

Stop moaning

Why

In what way? We're ranking pretty highly in quality of life and jobs, as well as businesses, growth is good, while people have easy access to nature from all the parks and pedestrian/cycle routes. East West Rail will pass through on it's way between Oxford and Cambridge, two powerhouse areas of culture and innovation, Network Rail decided to build one of their HQ buildings here, Marshall Amplification has their HQ and factory here, as well as Red Bull Racing being based here, and a large presence of other international companies. And we recently became a city for the Queen's Jubilee year and had the King arrive this year to officially declare it. Things are doing pretty well here.

"26.1% of the population in 2011 were from Black and Minority Ethnic groups (BME which defines as Non-White-British (all the other races except White-British))." - www.milton-keynes.gov.uk/your-council-and-elections/statistics/population-statistics National composition is 18%, so where racial demographics are concerned it's not far from the national average. Now that question is easily answered, I raise another: Why do you care? I can't see any good reason to even ask the question, unless you are trying to subtly imply there are 'too many black people' without openly confessing your racism.

Yes Afrikaans

@@minixtvbox YEss Bumba clot Ting