IN-PERSON Manchester Livable Cities

Abstract

Central Milton Keynes (CMK) is the city centre of the most successful post-war new town in Britain, Milton Keynes. Its original design was as the commercial and business district. Recently there have been a lot of changes in the CMK area. For example, a number of office buildings have been converted into apartments in addition to many Build to Rent apartment blocks having been completed. This study sets out to investigate why this happened, what the current state of CMK is, and what role CMK Town Council play and its challenges in making CMK more liveable for residents. It includes some desk research to identify recent local and national policy changes, and conducts some interviews with CMK Town Councillors, Milton Keynes City Council officers as well as some initial interviews with CMK residents. The study finds that changes in national planning legislation – The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015, and The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) (Amendment) (No.2) Order 2020 – contributed to the changes. Moreover, MK City Council has an ambitious plan to build a further 16,000 homes within the CMK area according to their local plan – MK City Plan 2050 Regulation 19. Also, it identifies some challenges such as lack of facilities (primary healthcare facilities, provision for education including Early years, Leisure centre and outdoor play areas, and etc) to support this increasing population within the CMK area as its infrastructure is not designed for residential use.