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

King Charles III is visiting Milton Keynes today to make official the city status conferred upon it by the late Queen Elizabeth II. The King famously visited the Aston Martin factory near Milton Keynes in 1966, an experience which is said to have sparked his lifelong fascination with the British car manufacturer.
Milton Keynes was developed in the late 1960s as a "New Town", a solution to the population overspill London was experiencing at the time. The intention was to build a self-contained town in which people could live, work, and enjoy life. At the time the formal "new town designation order" was made in 1967, Milton Keynes was in fact a tiny farming village with a population of around 200. Today, the city's population stands at around 256,000.
This special report aired on 13 January 1967, and shows how local residents of the picturesque Milton Keynes felt about their village and the surrounding 22,000 acres being developed into a feat of social architecture and urban planning. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the idea was not too popular...
#MiltonKeynes #NewTown #MK #UrbanPlanning #1960s
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[@marycontrary2828]

My home town, Milton Keynes its 10 times the size they initially thought it was going to be. I'm moved away now, and I can't get over the size of it now. I also never knew Shenley and Oakhill were villages. They are two estates within MK

[@sarogers6294]

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

[@marycontrary2828]

@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

[@spartakas659]

@@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.👍🏻

[@johneaton25]

@@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 ☹️

[@broadrussia]

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

[@nothandmade9686]

I am amazed how professional the journalist is as he listens to the answers to his challenging questions.

[@albertol1529]

Interesting to see a government official who was honest, polite, didn’t avoid the question and didn’t call anyone any names. Certain foreign politicians are right about our current politicians and their serious lack of gravitas and ability.

[@doom-mw9pb]

Look how beautiful it was befor and look at it now

[@keztrucker7478]

Bletchley born and bred, I was a school boy as Milton Keynes started to be built, I remember with great excitement as we got a new shopping centre in place of the old cattle market a new leisure centre in place of formal gardens etc and remember with great interest the building of the new estates the redway cycle paths that linked them and the brand new city centre with its marble effect walks and fountain and huge to my eyes department stores etc, as a youth I visited the mk bowl an outside music venue where all the big stars came Thin lizzy Micheal Jackson Madness Bowie Status Quo etc , loved growing up there , both my parents (now passed on ) were londoners and had came to Bletchley in the late 1950s for a better life and so it proved , they lay now side by side beneath it's soil , for my part I moved away married had kids and travelled the world , I know MK has its problems like all places and change for many was an issue but for me growing up there in the 1960s70s 80s was by in large a very positive thing , I still visit now and then and whilst it saddens me to see many of the orbital towns like Bletchley Stony Stratford and Wolverton rather run down or a shadow of their former selves in importance I'm sure that given time they will regain their prestigious nature as people look to buy in the suburbs and move to their much more rural feeling locations on the edge of the city

[@G1NZOU]

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.

[@5ifty6ixmediauk]

My Auntie moved there in the early 80's on a "second wave". She regretted it for years. I've seen documentaries and photos from the time. It looked like a beautiful area thats forever lost.

[@ct5625]

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.

[@rachel.mcgowan]

Milton Keynes turned out to be a successful "new town", now officially a city. They tried something similar here in N.Ireland with the new future city of Craigavon, it was a disaster, half-built at best and has little identity, it's just suburbs between Lurgan and Portadown.

[@musicloverchicago437]

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.

[@rachel.mcgowan]

@@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.

[@salus1231]

@@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

[@samuel_iv]

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

[@akumar7366]

I worked on the outdoor market when it first opened in 1978, a really busy place, lots of memories.

[@Dreyno]

“Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.”

[@m10199]

They were about bang on with the population estimate!

[@Amigo1601]

1967, and already they’re aware that we live in a very overcrowded country. 2023 look at the state of his country now. We have a failing NHS system. The whole infrastructure of this country is falling apart water, electricity cannot adequately supply where they are needed. Most of the roads are literally becoming farm tracks littered with potholes, which caused untold amounts of damage to peoples vehicles. Large swathes of countryside sold off to build more houses, it’s about time we took a long hard look at what we are doing. Milton Keynes was a much nicer place back in 1967. Take a look at the amount of housing that has now been built in Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire and how much farmland has vanished. Add to that the biggest white elephant, which is the HS2. This has cut its way through the countryside destroyed, ancient woodland and forced many people to leave their homes where they have lived for generations. It’s all about making money and taking backhanders absolute corruption everywhere.

[@Sidneyyoungblood75]

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??

[@stevenhoughton1406]

I live in Birmingham and I remember going to the Sanctuary Music Arena in Denbigh. Best days of my life raving all night at Dreamscape and Helter-skelter raves. Such a shame they knocked it down and built IKEA in its place

[@Joanna-il2ur]

MK wasn’t built from scratch. There were towns such as Bletchley, Wolverton and Stony Stratford already. When they were looking to devise a name, someone asked what was right in the middle of the area. Apparently a village called Milton Keynes that nobody had heard of and nobody could pronounce. When I was a girl, people often called the second word kaynz like John Maynard Keynes, but it’s settled on keenz. I was surprised during lockdown that MK has a homelessness problem . How can you be homeless en masse in a new town? The man who invented MK tried to bugger up my home town of Ashford, Kent. This was a nice little market town of 30,000 and although he failed, he left it with 90,000.

[@derektaylor2941]

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?

[@jimscott7136]

I've lived here very contentedly since 1982, having relocated from London when my job did. Over tgat time the city has come together as a mature place with its own distinctive character. My only serious gripe is the truly appalling public transport - buses stop running at 9pm. But that's not unique to MK.

[@ZeldaFitz]

It certainly has its own character 🤣

[@G1NZOU]

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.

[@derektaylor2941]

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.

[@craigtodd8297]

My Dad always said when he was a lad he worked a whole season on the building site of MK. When it came to the big pay day he was sick and never did get the pay.

[@agnosticevolutionist3567]

I remember at the again of 7 walking the main mall in the centre of town and thinking looking at it how modern it was.

[@sallysampson628]

I was born in Bow Brickhill. Spent 7 years in the village before my parents moved. They loved it and regretted leaving. Now at 61 after 3 moves I still think of BB. Anyone know if it’s still the village it was then (1961 - 1967) surrounded by beautiful farm land, a school, pub, post office and the station at the end/beginning of the village. My maiden name was Hewitt, Mum’s was king and she had family there. I miss it! Can’t imagine how large MK is or what areas it covers now. Anyone ? 👍🏻

[@lewisprangnell4320]

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.

[@jamescokl3]

120 sq miles. Big.

[@carlosferreira5114]

Amazing. We have to go back to 1967 to actually see old people speaking in a reasonable and rational way. What in the world happened between...

[@amanwithaplaninavan]

You

[@jamescokl3]

Nice greenery

[@mrsose1872]

Do you think it will change how the village looks? He asks whilst standing where the Snozone ski centre is now.

[@KingCharles3]

Great footage. Very silly of the government to build a town for cars rather than pedestrians.

[@vylbird8014]

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

[@G1NZOU]

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.

[@jamescokl3]

​​​​@@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.

[@suzyqualcast6269]

Comment from Matlock, Derbyshire : Back in early 80's lad called Richard, one of the revivalist Mods ended up living up here. I was from Iver, Bucks so was a kindred soul. Ain't seen him for years since split with m'x, don't wanna talk no more, eh, Rich ¿?

[@TianFranklin]

I live in Milton Keynes and it's certainly become a commuter town

[@boredofcarverticaladverts]

These people didn't see the big picture, now Milton Keynes has such gems as fishermead, the lakes estate, granby estate and the lovely netherfield estate not to mention the almost daily stabbings that don't make the news, it's a lovely place to live now

[@ct5625]

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

[@georgegeorge4921]

Spot on pal 👍

[@jamescokl3]

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

[@jamescokl3]

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.

[@derektaylor2941]

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

[@liam.4454]

The people they interviewed were 100% right

[@Rubicon1985]

Its hard to believe that at the time the interview was conducted everyone featured was a teenager.

[@Hereford1642]

Funny how the old towns, villages and even cities have a charm and humanity about them despite not being planned by experts whilst when given a blank sheet of paper the best the modern professionals can produce is bland lego uniformity that hardly anyone actually likes let alone loves.

[@thehearingaid]

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.

[@Hereford1642]

@@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.

[@jamescokl3]

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

[@asmallholdinginwales]

We moved to MK from the Lake District when I was 12 1971 a few houses in a field of mud, I grew up with the new city growing, lived on Galley Hill, moved around various areas within the city, my mum and friends campaigned for a hospital and then went on to raise funds for a scanner , my mum was also responsible for setting up the weeny boppers youth club. Moved away in 2014 as the city was no longer a good place to live now live very rural again visited a few times but the city is not like it used to be it’s lost its identity

[@kcu189]

At least they got the concrete cows .

[@jamescokl3]

People are never satisfied are they lol.

[@shadeauto3373]

ahhh good old ' excessive roundabout' place to drive thru

[@Yummers_310]

And these people were proven right, building MK was a huge mistake.

[@jamescokl3]

Having idiots running everything is a unrecifiying mistake. It sucks.

[@BigJambu]

Live here, there's no character, no soul and nothing to do unless you like shopping. Even eating out is like 90% chain restaurants.

[@vylbird8014]

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.

[@Ryan-pz2wh]

@@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”

[@TheRip72]

"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?

[@danw1374]

The standard American model.

[@jamescokl3]

And a 10 mile cycle to everywhere.

[@leighclift612]

Look at milton keynes now ..there's estate's every where ..& the traffic is horrendous 😫

[@sandeshdsouza7337]

Not all of them are whingers like some comments below suggest! Some, especially starting from 3:11 seem positively welcoming!

[@MENSA.lady2]

it's not easy planning a slum city from scratch. I bought there in 1981, in Eaglestone, and sold in 1983 at a small profit. That far back the writing was on the wall. Definetely one of my better decisions.

[@johneaton25]

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

[@J.Bliszko]

A “slum city”? What a load of wank.

[@georgegeorge4921]

It's an absolute shithole.

[@tuppid2463]

Incredibly nearly 300,000 people live there now and at the current rate of immigration it will be 600k within the next 20 years.

[@LHRTW]

Wow only that if it had an airport

[@minixtvbox]

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

[@LHRTW]

@@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.

[@jamescokl3]

​​​@@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..

[@bjoernaltmann]

They did get a shopping centre, which remained a 70s time capsule. But that’s about it.

[@ct5625]

It's amazing to see how the "nimby" movement hasn't changed in all these years. Most of those against it were just saying "we know it's needed but it should be somewhere else", ignoring the fact that it was needed as an overflow for London, within range to make it navigable by car, and along the M1. Also rather dark to consider but none of them seemed to realize that they wouldn't exactly be alive long enough to see the town become much more than a few building sites. Maybe that's morbid but I hope I care more about the next generation than about my last ten years on earth when I reach that age. As for Milton Keynes itself today, it has its problems but by all accounts it's incredibly green, easily navigable by foot, car, bike or bus, the village centers do still exist as their own focal points, most of us are surrounded by parks, trees and playing fields. You can go from a traditional country pub to a nightclub within a 5 minute drive, in Bletchley you could do that within a 5 minute walk. People joke about the roundabouts, but you will never get stuck in a traffic jam anywhere in Milton Keynes. Even if there's an accident the roundabout intersections are so well distanced the cops can just cut one off and divert all traffic with ease.

[@sarahlouise7163]

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

[@DerekDogsforSentience]

Interestingly the government didn’t listen then like they don’t listen now.

[@Azrael1st]

It looked nicer back than

[@ThisWontEndWell]

They didn't make this much fuss when my family came to Great Linford (in Milton Keynes) after the Norman invasion, hope they don't start demanding we return to Normandy my French is very basic 😅

[@Danielmountford_]

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

[@br4dl33y]

" a more suitable location could've been found" where it doesn't upset you but upsets someone else?

[@johnathantaylor5913]

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.

[@TheRip72]

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

[@norepetitivebeats]

All those NIMBYs getting all 'hills have eyes' about the plans 😆Funnily enough, Milton Keynes Village is still like it was back then, regardless of the fact that Milton Keynes city was built all around it as planned.

[@musicloverchicago437]

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

[@anonUK]

Local houses for local people!

[@norepetitivebeats]

@@anonUK Yes, Tubs, yes

[@anonUK]

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

[@norepetitivebeats]

@@anonUK 🤣

[@stievboyo636]

Will need to build 5 more they way the population is rising

[@gordoncharles741]

@@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.

[@gordoncharles741]

@@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.

[@Ryan-pz2wh]

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”

[@misfit2022]

“Won’t there be some compensations” - The Bowl

[@sandeshdsouza7337]

Thank God for the genius planners then. Can you even imagine, Milton Keynes being done now? By greedy developers? It would be a totally different plan!

[@salus1231]

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.

[@stevecarter8810]

​@@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.

[@G1NZOU]

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.

[@ozzyg82]

I had the unfortunate pleasure of staying in MK once. Never again.

[@georgegeorge4921]

👍

[@LCTesla]

So weirdly coincidental that its name combines two of the most prominent economists' names Probably just Texas Sharpshooter fallacy though

[@johnvine5731]

Milton Keynes in 2023 is fantastic, especially the Red Ways.

[@georgegeorge4921]

😂😂😂😂😂

[@jamescokl3]

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

[@johnvine5731]

@@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.

[@jamescokl3]

@@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.

[@davewalker7126]

I lived there from 80-82, quite liked it back then. Some good groups at the Bowl, shopping centre was easy to get to and free parking, drunken nights painting the concrete cows. I've never been back since mind.

[@jamescokl3]

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

[@davewalker7126]

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

[@jamescokl3]

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

[@gavinthorburn5385]

Did the original planners expect mk to be so multicultral by 2023

[@jamescokl3]

Do they care in their Cotswolds homes?

[@blurds]

"Guys... Do you like roundabouts?"

[@dav01kar]

Look at now!

[@benglover2007]

It was all about FM103 Horizon…

[@abgy237]

You stole a football club!

[@G1NZOU]

And you can't have it back.

[@abgy237]

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

[@simonpayne8252]

They filmed a bunch of superman scenes there

[@G1NZOU]

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.

[@SAINT656]

They still could of put more roundabouts in Milton Keynes

[@jamescokl3]

To go with the 200000000000000000000009000000 that are already there.

[@bobbyknox9258]

And look what's happened.

[@djmull63]

Did it happen he didn't say?

[@vylbird8014]

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.

[@MOLYN867]

As someone who grew up in the surrounding area I watched this abomination grow and take shape. I no longer live in this area and believe it has become yet another blot on the landscape. I expect our new arrivals from different cultures will thrive there.

[@suzyqualcast6269]

Tell it, pal. With u.

[@suzyqualcast6269]

Tell it, pal. With u.

[@johneaton25]

YEP 👍

[@NS-bu2oq]

Bigot

[@ct5625]

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

[@terence2678]

So many roundabouts because the planner kept moving his coffee cup on the blueprint.

[@ThomasHerbert-tf1yn]

Hunter wanker at the end

[@themacabrecerberus]

At the 2021 Census, the population of its urban area was over 256,000

[@peterdavidson3268]

There's always somewhere else much more suitable to accommodate huge construction projects like these (think HS2) - funny that?!?

[@truth.speaker]

It'll never take off

[@ELPaso1990TX]

A crime against the countryside all those beautiful thatched cottages and farms destroyed.

[@vylbird8014]

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.

[@G1NZOU]

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.

[@jamescokl3]

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

[@G1NZOU]

@@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.

[@jamescokl3]

@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.

[@HomerSlated]

I visited Milton Keynes once. It's an utterly forgettable town. I honestly can't remember a single thing about it. I knew it was a new town, but never really paused to consider what it replaced. Of course it was bound to be the countryside. It always is. Nobody ever considers reusing derelict wasteland, slums or abandoned factories for housing, they always want to rip up trees and meadows. Remember the Green Belt? Does it even exist any more? Nobody seems the have used that expression for decades, so I assume it's been long abandoned. Sadly it looks like that classic 70s movie, Silent Running, was not science fiction. I can foresee a day, maybe even in my lifetime, when not even a single blade of grass is left standing, and this entire miserable planet is just one giant slab of concrete. That certainly seems to be what the government and town planners want, and not just in the UK. The Brazilian government, for example, seem determined to completely eradicate the Amazon Rainforest, and at the current rate of deforestation, it looks certain that they will actually get what they want. And meanwhile China and America seem to be in an arms race to see who can destroy the planet first. I'm glad I'm old. The prospect of having to live a full life in this dystopian era is too depressing to contemplate. Not that I think the younger generation have much prospect of living a full life, mind you.

[@mcallisterwill]

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.

[@Sidneyyoungblood75]

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?

[@Wasserfeld.]

You hear the term Green Belt almost every say in London

[@G1NZOU]

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.

[@TyapOfficial]

Sad that they destroyed all of these beautiful farms and built a bunch of ugly structures on top of it with no soul.

[@tomsharpe2251]

Knock it all down and have it back to how it was '67

[@london-vlog2981]

😂 livid in this gost town during covide 19.

[@PuddingPeep-fs1kw]

N.I.M.B.Y

[@robwalker7575]

BIN CITY.

[@nathanieldwarner]

Bloody shame

[@colinjohnhaynes786]

Lived in bletchley there since 1966 to 2023 before mk was built mk is to big now the mk of the 70s and 80s and 90s is nothing like now with so many houses being built and built. Its to big now getting silly in its size.

[@KarlDowney]

1m Londoners in Milton Keynes by 1980's? It's 2023 & MK doesn't even have a population of 300k yet. 🤣

[@101yayo]

Classic NIMBYism.

[@oddities-whatnot]

Shame it was built and the fact we have too many people in this country. Im moving to Scotland to get away from it all.

[@jamescokl3]

Most people suckI agree.

[@andrewganley9016]

Lived there for five years couldnt wait to leave what a dump!

[@LHRTW]

Glasgow is the biggest dump

[@jamescokl3]

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

[@LHRTW]

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

[@BossySwan]

*_waste o time i reckon_*

[@joedaman8436]

What a waste of time, proper strange place MK is, just don't understand it

[@willrichardson519]

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

[@christianhorner001]

Bunch of whingers

[@DERKIFAL]

🔔 🔚

[@annother3350]

Stop moaning

[@harrystewart9332]

And now Milton Keynes has just become so bad it’s a joke

[@erminiococozza5332]

The place has no soul. Best thing to come out of MK is the A421 to Bedford!

[@lindsaysmith7825]

Unmitigated failure

[@walkingandadventures6114]

Why

[@G1NZOU]

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.

[@user-lm5qx3qt7d]

Is Milton Keynes filled up with black people Yet concrete Jungle

[@vylbird8014]

"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.

[@minixtvbox]

Yes Afrikaans

[@user-lm5qx3qt7d]

@@minixtvbox YEss Bumba clot Ting

[@wanklefish]

I quite like Milton Keynes, it's easy to navigate, rarely any meaningful congestion (except in a couple of places like the stadium), and some nice open spaces too.