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Milton Keynes

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Geography of Great
Britain

   Milton Keynes [ˌmɪltənˈkiːnz] is a large town in northern
   Buckinghamshire, in South East England, about 45 miles/75 km north-west
   of London, and roughly halfway between London and Birmingham. Milton
   Keynes was formally designated as a new town in January 1967. Its 34
   square miles (88km²) area incorporated the existing towns of Bletchley,
   Wolverton and Stony Stratford along with another fifteen villages and
   farmland in between. It took its name from the existing village of
   Milton Keynes, a few miles east of the planned city centre. Uniquely
   for the UK, the urban form uses a 1km grid for the top level of street
   hierarchy: the local form of most districts is more conventional.

   At the 2001 census the population of the Milton Keynes urban area, also
   including the town of Newport Pagnell, was 184,506, and that of the
   wider borough of Milton Keynes, which has been a unitary authority
   independent of Buckinghamshire since 1997, was 207,063 (compared to a
   population of around 53,000 for the same area in 1961)

                  Milton Keynes

   Image:dot4gb.svg
                    Statistics
   Population:          184,506
                 Ordnance Survey
   OS grid reference:   SP852387
                  Administration
   Borough:             Milton Keynes
   Region:              South East England
   Constituent country: England
   Sovereign state:     United Kingdom
                      Other
   Ceremonial county:   Buckinghamshire
   Historic county:     Buckinghamshire
                     Services
   Police force:        Thames Valley
   Fire and rescue:     {{{Fire}}}
   Ambulance:           South Central
            Post office and telephone
   Post town:           MILTON KEYNES
   Postal district:     MK1 - 15
   Dialling code:       01908
                     Politics
   UK Parliament:       North East Milton Keynes
                        Milton Keynes South West
   European Parliament: South East England

History

A new city

   In the 1960s, the Government decided that a further generation of new
   towns in the South East was needed to relieve housing congestion in
   London.

   Since the 1950s, overspill housing for several London boroughs had been
   constructed in Bletchley. Further studies in the 1960s identified north
   Buckinghamshire as a possible site for a large new town, a new city,
   encompassing the existing towns of Bletchley, Stony Stratford and
   Wolverton. The New Town (informally, "New City") was to be the biggest
   yet, with a target population of 250,000. The designated area was
   25,200 acres/10,200 hectares. The name "Milton Keynes" was taken from
   the existing village of Milton Keynes on the site.

   The site was deliberately located equidistant from London, Birmingham,
   Leicester, Oxford and Cambridge with the intention that it would be
   self-sustaining and eventually become a major regional centre in its
   own right. Planning control was taken from elected local authorities
   and delegated to the Milton Keynes Development Corporation (MKDC).

   The Corporation's strongly modernist designs featured regularly in the
   magazines Architectural Design and the Architects' Journal. MKDC was
   determined to learn from the mistakes made in the earlier New Towns and
   revisit the Garden City ideals. They set in place the characteristic
   grid roads that run between districts and the intensive planting, lakes
   and parkland that are so appreciated today.

   The Government wound up MKDC in 1992, transferring control to the
   Commission for New Towns (CNT) and then finally to English
   Partnerships, with the planning function returning to local authority
   control (since 1974 and the Local Government Act 1972, the Milton
   Keynes Borough Council, which was subsequently made a unitary authority
   in the 1990s). Most recently, the Government has assigned significant
   planning control to English Partnerships, charging it with increasing
   the population beyond to 300,000 by 2030.

   The borough applied for formal city status in the 2000 and 2002
   competitions, but was not successful.

Prior history

   The area that was to become the New City encompassed a landscape that
   has a rich historic legacy. Evidence of permanent settlement dates back
   to the Bronze Age. The area to be developed was largely farmland and
   undeveloped villages. Before construction began, every area was subject
   to detailed archaeological investigation: doing so has provided a
   unique insight into the history of a large sample of the landscape of
   south-central England. When the boundary of Milton Keynes was defined,
   some 40,000 people lived in the "designated area" of 8,851 ha/21,833 a.
   Collections of oral history covering the 20th century completes a
   picture that is described in detail at the article History of Milton
   Keynes.

Urban design

Grid squares

   Milton Keynes Development Corporation planned the city's layout
   according to street hierarchy principles, using a grid pattern of
   approximately 1 km interval, rather than on the more conventional
   radial pattern found in older settlements. Major roads within the city
   run between communities, rather than through them: the major roads are
   known locally as grid roads and the spaces between them are known as
   grid squares. Intervals of 1 km were chosen so that people would always
   be within walking distance of a bus stop (buses were originally
   intended to run only on the grid but this has not happened — buses take
   tortuous routes through the grid squares). Consequently each grid
   square is a semi-autonomous community, making a unique collective of
   100 clearly identifiable neighbourhoods within the overall urban
   environment. The grid squares have a variety of development styles,
   ranging from conventional urban development and industrial parks to
   original rural and modern urban and pseudo-rural developments.

Roads

   Roundabout junctions were built at intersections since the grid roads
   were intended to carry large volumes of traffic: this type of junction
   is efficient at dealing with these volumes. Along the edges of each
   grid road there are large grassed areas, known as 'reservations'. This
   is deliberate and allows roads to be upgraded from single carriageway
   to become dual carriageways as traffic volumes dictate. The edges of
   each grid square are heavily landscaped and some are banked up and
   densely planted. The purpose of this was to reduce traffic noise for
   residents but traffic noise is still significant at some locations.
   Traffic movements are fast, with little congestion since there are many
   alternative routes to a particular destination. The national speed
   limit applies on dualled sections of the grid roads (70 mph) and most
   single carriageway grid roads (60 mph), although some single
   carriageway speed limits have now been reduced to 40 mph. Consequently
   the risk to unwary pedestrians and turning traffic is significant,
   although pedestrians rarely have to cross grid roads at grade, as
   underpasses exist in several places along each stretch of all of the
   grid roads. Monitoring station data shows that pollution is lower than
   in other settlements of a similar size. This can be partially
   attributed to the large number of trees, particularly to the fact that
   trees line grid roads in most places.

Height

   The original design guidance for the city declared that "no building
   [be] taller than the tallest tree". However, the Milton Keynes
   Partnership, in its expansion plans for Milton Keynes, believes that
   Central Milton Keynes (and elsewhere) needs "landmark buildings" and
   has recently lifted the height restriction for the area. As a result,
   14- storey buildings are now being built in the town centre.

Linear parks

   The flood plains of the Great Ouse and of its tributaries (the Ouzel
   and some brooks) have been protected as linear parks that run right
   through the city. The Grand Union Canal is another green route (and
   demonstrates the level topology of the city - there is just one minor
   lock in its entire 10 mile route through from Fenny Stratford to the
   "Iron Trunk" Aqueduct at Wolverton. The Milton Keynes redway system of
   cycleways and footpaths uses these and other routes.

"City in the forest"

   The original Development Corporation design concept aimed for a "forest
   city" and its foresters planted millions of trees from its own nursery
   in Newlands in the following years. As of 2006, the urban area has 20
   million trees.

Further development plans

   In January 2004, Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott announced the
   Government's plan to double the population of Milton Keynes by 2025. He
   appointed English Partnerships to do so, taking planning controls away
   from Milton Keynes Borough Council and making EP the statutory planning
   authority. Their proposal for the next phase of expansion moves away
   from grid squares to large scale, mixed use, higher density
   development. The more detailed article expands on the details of their
   proposals.

   As might be anticipated, these plans are controversial — especially as
   planning control has been removed again from elected local authorities
   and placed in a central-government appointed body.

   Milton Keynes is at the centre of the South Midlands area identified by
   the government for growth.

Culture

   The open air National Bowl is a 65,000 "seat" venue for large scale
   rock (and classical) concerts. It is situated off the A5 near Furzton.

   The 1,400-seat Milton Keynes Theatre (Blonski-Heard) opened in 1999.
   Its high booking rate allows it to lay claim to the title "Britain's
   most popular theatre". The theatre has a unusual feature: the ceiling
   can be lowered closing off the third tier (gallery) to create a more
   intimate space for smaller scale productions. There are further
   performance spaces in Bletchley, Leadenhall, Shenley Church End,
   Stantonbury and Walton Hall.
   Milton Keynes Gallery, surface by Michael Craig-Martin Enlarge
   Milton Keynes Gallery, surface by Michael Craig-Martin

   The the municipal (art) gallery (Milton Keynes Gallery, next to the
   main theatre) hosts a various shows.

   In Wavendon, on the southeast edge of the city, The Stables provides a
   venue for jazz, blues, folk, rock, classical, pop and world music. It
   is closely associated with jazz artists Cleo Laine and John Dankworth.
   The venue also hosts an annual summer camp for young musicians.

   Another music venue is The Pitz in the Woughton Centre, Leadenhall. It
   usually features a mixture of punk, alternative rock, and heavy metal.

   There are two museums, the Bletchley Park museum of wartime
   cryptography, and the Milton Keynes Museum, which includes the Stacey
   Hill Collection of rural life that existed before the foundation of the
   new city.

   The city also has a literature scene, with groups like Speakeasy
   meeting regularly and hosting performance events, and the city's only
   poetry magazine, Monkey Kettle coming out three times a year.

Education

   The Open University's headquarters are based in the city, though as
   this is a distance learning institution, the only students resident on
   campus are approximately 200 postgraduates. Cranfield University,
   another postgraduate school, is located just outside the city, in
   Cranfield, Bedfordshire. Milton Keynes College provides further
   education to Foundation Degree level.

   Milton Keynes Borough Council has identified the lack of a conventional
   local university as a problem.

   Like most of the rest of the UK (though not of Buckinghamshire), the
   state secondary schools in Milton Keynes use the " Comprehensive
   System". Results are above the national average, though below that of
   the rest of Buckinghamshire — but the demography of Milton Keynes is
   also far closer to the national average than is the latter.

Sport

   Milton Keynes has professional teams in football ( Milton Keynes Dons
   F.C.), ice hockey ( Milton Keynes Lightning) and in basketball ( Milton
   Keynes Lions). It is represented at amateur level in many sports, some
   at national level. For details see Sport in Milton Keynes.

Other amenities

     * Milton Keynes has a 200 km network of cycleways/footpaths for
       pedestrians and cyclists called the Redway system, generally
       surfaced with red tarmac, which criss-cross most of city. The
       national SUSTRANS cycle network runs to and through the city. The
       Swans Way long distance path does the same.
     * Central Milton Keynes has an important regional retail centre. It
       includes Middleton Hall that plays host to exhibitions, fairs and
       displays throughout the year.
     * Milton Keynes is home to the National Badminton Centre and the
       National Hockey Stadium, (which is also the temporary home ground
       to Milton Keynes Dons F.C., pending completion of a permanent
       30,000 seater stadium near Bletchley).

   Station Square
   Enlarge
   Station Square
     * Near the station, the "Planet Ice" ice rink is used for
       professional and amateur ice hockey plus leisure skating. See Sport
       in Milton Keynes#Ice hockey for details.
     * Also near the station there is a covered "urban skateboarding"
       arena, but the wide expanses and slopes of the station plaza remain
       very popular among boarders.
     * There is a high security prison, HMP Woodhill, on the western
       boundary of the city.
     * Nearby, the Xscape Dome includes an indoor snow slope, a multiplex
       cinema, skydiving simulator, climbing wall and sports-related
       retail outlets.
     * Willen Lakeside Park hosts watersports, and the North Lake is a
       bird sanctuary.

   Part of the Blue Lagoon
   Enlarge
   Part of the Blue Lagoon
     * The Blue Lagoon Local Nature Reserve in Bletchley.
     * Milton Keynes will soon be covered by a high speed WiMax network
       and the central area will additionally have free WiFi .
       (Availability of conventional ADSL broadband in some parts of
       Milton Keynes suffers from the fact that British Telecom used very
       long runs from the exchanges and used aluminium rather than copper
       cabling. Also, the cable TV network was one of the earliest to be
       installed in the UK and apparently cannot support broadband).

Original towns and villages

   The historical settlements have been focal points for the modern
   development of the new city. Every grid square has historical
   antecedents, if only in the field names. The more obvious ones are
   listed below and most have more detailed articles.
   Liz Leyh's "Concrete Cows"
   Enlarge
   Liz Leyh's "Concrete Cows"

   Bletchley was first recorded in the 12th century as Blechelai. Its
   station was a major Victorian junction (the London and North Western
   Railway with the Oxford-Cambridge Varsity Line), leading to the
   substantial urban growth in the town in that period. It expanded to
   absorb the villages of Water Eaton and Fenny Stratford.
   During World War II, British, Polish and American cryptographers at
   Bletchley Park broke a large number of Axis codes and ciphers,
   including the German Enigma machine.
   Enlarge
   During World War II, British, Polish and American cryptographers at
   Bletchley Park broke a large number of Axis codes and ciphers,
   including the German Enigma machine.
     * Bletchley Park was home to the Government Code and Cypher School
       during the Second World War. The famous Enigma code was cracked
       here, and the building housed what was arguably the world's first
       programmable computer, Colossus. The house is now a museum of war
       memorabilia, cryptography and computing.

   The Benedictine Priory at Bradwell was of major economic importance in
   this area of north Buckinghamshire before the Dissolution of the
   Monasteries. The routes of the medieval trackways converge on the site
   from some distance (many of which are now Redways or bridleways).
   Nowadays, there is only a small medieval chapel and a manor house
   occupying the site.
   The windmill near Bradwell village, beside the playing fields
   Enlarge
   The windmill near Bradwell village, beside the playing fields

   New Bradwell, to the north of the medieval Bradwell (Abbey) and just
   across the canal and the railway to the east of Wolverton, was built
   specifically for railway workers. It has a working windmill. The level
   bed of the old tramway from Newport Pagnell to Wolverton ends here and
   has been converted to a redway, making it a favourite route for
   cycling.

   Great Linford appears in the Domesday Book as Linforde, and features a
   church to Saint Andrew dating from 1215. Today, the outer buildings of
   the seventeenth-century manor house form an Arts Centre, and Linford
   Manor is a prestigious recording studio.

   Milton Keynes Village is the original village to which the New City
   owes its name. The original village is still evident, with a pleasant
   thatched pub, village hall, church and traditional housing. The area
   around the village has reverted to its original name of Middleton, as
   shown on old maps of the 1700s. The oldest surviving domestic building
   in the area, a fourteenth century manor house, is here.
   Stony Stratford high street in festive mood
   Enlarge
   Stony Stratford high street in festive mood

   There has been a market in Stony Stratford since 1194 (by charter of
   King Richard I). The Rose and Crown Inn at Stratford is reputedly the
   last place the Princes in the Tower were seen alive.

   The manor house of Walton village, Walton Hall, is the headquarters of
   the Open University and the tiny parish church (deconsecrated) is in
   its grounds.
   The Peace Pagoda
   Enlarge
   The Peace Pagoda

   The tiny Parish Church ( 1680) at Willen contains the only unaltered
   building by the architect and physicist Robert Hooke. Nearby, there is
   a Buddhist Temple and a Peace Pagoda. The district borders the River
   Ouzel: there is a large balancing lake here, to capture flash floods
   before they cause problems down stream on the River Great Ouse. The
   north basin is a wild-life sanctuary and a favourite of migrating
   aquatic birds. The south basin is for leisure use, favoured by wind
   surfers and dinghy sailors. The circuit of the lakes is a favoured "fun
   run".

   The original Wolverton was a medieval settlement just north and west of
   today's town. The Ridge and Furrow pattern of agriculture can still be
   seen in the nearby fields and the Saxon (rebuilt in 1819) Church of the
   Holy Trinity still sits next to the Norman Motte and Bailey site.
   Modern Wolverton was a 19th century New Town built to house the workers
   at the Wolverton railway works (which built engines and carriages for
   the London and North Western Railway).

Modern parishes and districts

   The Borough of Milton Keynes is fully parished. These are the parishes,
   and the districts they contain, within Milton Keynes itself.
     * Bletchley and Fenny Stratford: Central Bletchley, Denbigh North,
       Denbigh East, Denbigh West, Eaton Manor, Fenny Stratford, Water
       Eaton
     * Bradwell: Bradwell, Bradwell Common, Bradwell village, Heelands,
       Rooksley
     * Bradwell Abbey: Bradwell Abbey, Kiln Farm, Stacey Bushes, Two Mile
       Ash, Wymbush
     * Broughton and Milton Keynes: Atterbury, Brook Furlong, Broughton,
       Fox Milne, Middleton, Milton Keynes village, Northfield, Oakgrove,
       Pineham
     * Campbell Park: Campbell Park, Elfield Park, Fishermead, Newlands,
       Oldbrook, Springfield, Willen and Willen Lake, Winterhill
     * Central Milton Keynes
     * Great Linford: Great Linford, Neath Hill, Pennyland, Tongwell,
       Willen Park
     * Kents Hill, Monkston and Brinklow: Brinklow, Kents Hill, Kingston,
       Monkston
     * Loughton: Loughton, Loughton Lodge, the Bowl
     * New Bradwell
     * Shenley Brook End: Emerson Valley, Furzton, Kingsmead, Shenley
       Brook End, Snelshall, Tattenhoe, Tattenhoe Park, Westcroft
     * Shenley Church End: Crownhill, Grange Farm, Hazeley, Medbourne,
       Oakhill, Oxley, Shenley Church End, Woodhill
     * Simpson: Ashland, Simpson, West Ashland
     * Stantonbury: Bancroft/Bancroft Park, Blue Bridge, Bradville,
       Linford Wood, Stantonbury, Stantonbury Fields
     * Stony Stratford: Fullers Slade, Galley Hill, Stony Stratford
     * Walton: Caldecotte, Old Farm Park, Tilbrook, Tower Gate, Walnut
       Tree, Walton, Walton Hall, Walton Park, Wavendon Gate
     * West Bletchley: Bletchley Park, Church Green, Far Bletchley, Old
       Bletchley, West Bletchley, Whaddon
     * Wolverton and Greenleys: Greenleys, Stonebridge, Wolverton, Old
       Wolverton
     * Woughton: Beanhill, Bleak Hall, Coffee Hall, Eaglestone,
       Leadenhall, Netherfield, Peartree Bridge, Redmoor, Tinkers Bridge,
       Woughton on the Green, Woughton Park, Woughton village.

Notable people from Milton Keynes

     * Milton Keynes is the birthplace of Errol Barnett who is an anchor
       and reporter for Channel One News in the United States. He lived in
       Crownhill and attended Holmwood First School and Two Mile Ash
       Middle School before moving to the U.S..

Transport

   Milton Keynes is situated on the West Coast Main Line, which served
   Bletchley railway station and Wolverton railway station before the
   development of Milton Keynes. These stations are now only served by
   local services, and the Milton Keynes Central station has been
   developed between these and serves the city centre. The Marston Vale
   Line branches from the WCML at Bletchley, and has two stations : Fenny
   Stratford railway station and Bow Brickhill railway station.

   The M1 motorway runs to the east of the city, and is served by
   junctions 13, 14, and 15A. The A5 road runs through the west of the
   city. Other main roads include the A509, which links Milton Keynes with
   Wellingborough and Kettering, and the A421 which goes west to
   Buckingham and east to Bedford.

   Many coaches stop at the Milton Keynes Coachway, beside M1 Junction 14,
   near a park and ride car park, about three miles (5 km) from the centre
   (3.5 miles from MK Central station).

   Milton Keynes is served by routes 6 and 51 on the National Cycle
   Network.

   The nearest international airport is Luton. There is a direct rail
   connection to Birmingham International Airport. There is an aerodrome
   at Cranfield (10 km from CMK).
   the Grand Union Canal passes between Bradwell and New Bradwell via the
   Bradwell Aqueduct
   Enlarge
   the Grand Union Canal passes between Bradwell and New Bradwell via the
   Bradwell Aqueduct

   The Grand Union Canal (London/Birmingham) provides a major axis in the
   design of Milton Keynes.

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milton_Keynes"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
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