Milton Keynes Development Corporation


Milton Keynes Development Corporation was a development corporation operating from 1967 to 1992 to oversee the planning and early development of Milton Keynes, then a planned new town midway between London and Birmingham. At designation, the area within the designated area was home to some 40,000 people in the existing towns and villages.

Establishment

MKDC was established on 23 January 1967 to deliver a "new city" that would be the modern interpretation of the garden city movement concepts first expressed by Ebenezer Howard 60 years earlier.
It was headquartered in Wavendon Tower, in the village of Wavendon on the eastern edge of the city.
Situated in the north of Buckinghamshire near the borders with Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire, Milton Keynes would be a "city in the trees"the planning guideline for residential areas outside Central Milton Keynes was "no building higher than the highest tree" – at a time when multi-storey flats and office blocks were dominating the redevelopment of most inner city areas and many large towns.
The vision that the urban design consultants set out in The Plan for Milton Keynes implied that the architects and engineers should learn from the mistakes made in the earlier new towns and build a city that people would be proud to call their home. It was placed where it would have the advantages of a direct motorway and rail link with the capital city, London, and the second city Birmingham; both away. The task of MKDC was to give effect to the grand principles of the Plan.

Personnel

Following publication of the Draft Master Plan for Milton Keynes, the government appointed Lord Campbell of Eskan to chair the board of the new Development Corporation. For the critical local consultation period, Walter Ismay became the corporation's first Chief Executive. The Board invited as consultants Richard Llewellyn Davies and partners, who produced the overall development plan, with its grid pattern of distributor roads at roughly intervals. When the planning enquiries were over, it was time for a different type of CEO and Fred Roche took over in 1970. Llewellyn Davies, with colleagues Walter Bor, John de Monchaux and Suzanne Beauchamp de Monchaux continued to contribute to the development of strategy.,
In 1980, Frank Henshaw took over from Fred Roche. Lord Campbell was succeeded by Sir Henry Chilver in 1983.

Promotional events

MKDC promoted the Homeworld 81 exhibition in 1981, thirty-six houses showcasing "the latest developments in housing from international designers, architects and builders", and Energy World, a demonstration project of 51 low-energy houses completed in 1986.

Supersession

The Government wound up MKDC in 1992 after 25 years, transferring control to the Commission for New Towns, latterly part of English Partnerships, which subsequently merged with the Housing Corporation to become the Homes and Communities Agency. Control over design passed to Milton Keynes Partnership which remained a major landowner in the city. Design criteria became more similar to those being applied by the HCA on sites it owned across the country. Public parks were transferred to the Milton Keynes Parks Trust, a registered charity.