Central Milton Keynes | |
---|---|
Civil parish and central business district | |
Location within Buckinghamshire | |
Area | 0.9 sq mi (2.3 km2) |
Population | 2,726 (2011 Census) [1] |
• Density | 3,029/sq mi (1,170/km2) |
OS grid reference | SP851389 |
Civil parish |
|
Unitary authority | |
Ceremonial county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | MILTON KEYNES |
Postcode district | MK9 |
Dialling code | 01908 |
Police | Thames Valley |
Fire | Buckinghamshire |
Ambulance | South Central |
UK Parliament | |
Website | cmktowncouncil |
Central Milton Keynes is the central business district of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England and a civil parish in its own right, with a town council.
The district is approximately 3.5 km (2.2 mi) long by 1 km (0.6 mi) wide and occupies some of the highest land in the city. [2] It contains (behind the Central Library) the historic site of the moot hill for Secklow (or Sigelai) Hundred. [3] It is the site of the central retail, business, law enforcement and governmental districts, Milton Keynes Central railway station and around 2,000 residential dwellings.
Occupying 342 hectares (850 acres), [4] the district lies between Portway (H5, A509) to the north, the West Coast Main Line and A5 to the west, Childs Way (H6) to the south and the Grand Union Canal to the east. It is crossed from north to south by (in west to east order, major roads only) Grafton Gate (V6), Witan Gate, Saxon Gate (V7) and Secklow Gate, and Marlborough Street. It is crossed from west to east (in north to south order, major roads only) by Silbury Boulevard, Midsummer Boulevard and Avebury Boulevard. Midsummer Boulevard is the primary spine.
The district rests like a saddle across a long north-south ridge with its highest point here at a little over 110 metres (360 ft), falling east to 75 metres near the Grand Union Canal and 85 metres near the Central railway station. [2] This area is almost [lower-alpha 1] the highest point of Milton Keynes and includes the site of Secklow Mound, [5] the moot mound (meeting place) for the Secklow Hundred and a scheduled ancient monument, [6] just behind the central library.
Midsummer sunrise is somewhere to the east – not actually on the alignment of Midsummer Boulevard: [...] But it was a good urban myth to lay down. Let's call that road Midsummer Boulevard because you could tell people that on Midsummer's Day, the sun rises at the end of it, which it nearly does. And the other two? We'll refer to our Anglo-Saxon heritage, because this is not an American new town... It's an English new town, in an English place, on a Common, where three Saxon Hundreds used to meet at that little mound behind the library. So we refer to Avebury and Silbury as being part of our historical and cultural references.
— David Lock [7]
I've always been interested in astronomy. It's something you've got to know as an architect when you're designing buildings: where [does] the sun rise in winter? Where [does] it set in summer? You've got to know that, otherwise you don't know where you're putting your building in relation to the cosmos. That goes in pretty early.
— Stuart Mosscrop, Head Architect for CMK [7]
While still on the drawing board, planners noticed that the planned main streets in the proposed city centre would almost frame the rising sun on Midsummer's Day. [8] [lower-alpha 2] This story has become embellished over time and, according to subsequent reports, they consulted Greenwich Observatory to obtain the exact angle required at the latitude of CMK, and persuaded the engineers to shift the grid of roads a few degrees in response. [10] [11] Physical reality does not match this report. From the highest point on Midsummer Boulevard, where the eastward horizon is unobstructed, the sunrise at 'first flash' is not aligned with the Boulevard. [12] In reality, the sun is somewhat elevated before alignment occurs, 40 minutes later. [13]
The park, with housing either side, takes up the larger part of the district. It was named in honour of the first chairman of Milton Keynes Development Corporation, Lord Campbell of Eskan. It stretches just east of the shops and theatre down to the Grand Union Canal. Among the features of the park is a belvedere with extensive views over Bedfordshire to the east and a cricket ground with pavilion. The Milton Keynes Parks Trust, which manages the park, grazes sheep on it to keep the vegetation under control. [14]
Marlborough Street (V8, B4034) runs in a cutting through the ridge, bridged by a redway (shared path) between the main centre and the park.
This area is defined by the Marlborough Street (V8, B4034) to the north-east, the Saxon Gate (Saxon Street, V7) to the south-west, Portway (H5, A509) to the north-west and Childs Way (H6) to the south-east. The core retail district is further delimited by Silbury and Avebury Boulevards, with civic and office developments outside the Boulevards.
The retail district includes thecentre:mk and Midsummer Place (the covered high streets that are the Central Milton Keynes shopping centres).
The Secklow Mound, the Central Library, Milton Keynes Civic Offices and other commercial offices are on the north side of Silbury Boulevard, which separates them from the shops. Midsummer Boulevard runs along the south side of the Centre:MK, separating the shops from the theatre, art gallery, Theatre District, the Xscape building, pubs, sports shops and other leisure facilities. The civic offices were designed by FaulknerBrowns Architects and completed in 1979. [15]
Xscape Milton Keynes is the main leisure complex in Central Milton Keynes consisting of SnoZone, a real snow indoor ski slope, a multiscreen cinema, and a number of shops, restaurants and night clubs. At the rear of the site is iFly, an indoor skydiving column.
The municipal public art gallery, MK Gallery, presents exhibitions of international contemporary and classical art. [16] The gallery was extended and remodelled in 2018/19 and includes an art-house cinema. [17] [18] It does not have a permanent collection.
The adjacent 1,400-seat Milton Keynes Theatre opened in 1999. [19] The theatre has an unusual feature: the ceiling can be lowered closing off the third tier (gallery) to create a more intimate space for smaller-scale productions. [19] [20]
This area is also delimited by Portway and Childs Way. Saxon Gate separates it from the north-east area and Grafton Gate (Grafton Street, V7) marks its south-western edge. The domed Church of Christ the Cornerstone, law courts and police station are in the business district, beside the small linear Fred Roche Gardens and Grafton Park that provides its core.
This ecumenical church, the first such in the United Kingdom, is shared by the major Christian denominations to serve the office workers and the small resident population. (There are many denominational places of worship elsewhere in Milton Keynes).
The Hub:MK is a 2006-built development between the station and the church, consisting of towers ranging between 10 and 14 storeys. The complex includes two high-rise hotels and a number of residential and office towers set around a central piazza. The site controversially involves the closure of one of the original pedestrian underpasses and is built right up to the edge of the adjacent boulevard, the first of several proposals that would have changed the unique character of Milton Keynes Development Corporation's original design for Central Milton Keynes. The work is part of the 'densification' plan that central government, through its agency English Partnerships, had ordained for Milton Keynes. Its height, also a major departure from the original low-rise design, makes it the third tallest building in Milton Keynes, beaten only by the 14-storey Xscape and the 18-storey Mellish Court in Bletchley.
To the south of the Hub lies a similar development named Vizion. This is similar in height and layout to the Hub but features a large Sainsbury's supermarket taking up the lower two floors with a rooftop garden above it. Vizion was completed in 2009, whilst the following year saw the completion of the 9-storey Pinnacle office development further west along Midsummer Boulevard from the Hub, closer to the railway station. The latter is distinctive for the slanted roof on its tallest section.
As of 2022 [update] , Milton Keynes does not have its own conventional undergraduate university, though it contains the campus of the national Open University. There is an outpost of the University of Bedfordshire in a CMK office block. [21]
Cranfield University and the Milton Keynes City Council are partners in a detailed proposal to establish an undergraduate campus, code-named MK:U . [22] [23] The plan anticipates opening by 2023, [23] with a campus in the block contained by Grafton Street / Avebury Boulevard / Witan Gate / Childs Way. In January 2019, the partners announced an international competition to design the new campus. [24] In May 2019, Santander Bank announced a 'seed funding' grant of £30M to help with building and initial running costs. [23] On 4 July 2019, the shortlisted proposals for the campus were announced. [25] On 30 July 2019, the evaluation panel announced that Hopkins Architects had produced the winning design. [26]
As of January 2022 [update] , the project is stalled pending assurance of government funding. [27]
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (May 2019) |
This district is defined by Saxon Gate (Saxon Street, V7) to the north-east, the West Coast Main Line (and the adjacent A5) to the south-west, Portway (H5, A509) to the north-west and Childs Way (H6) to the south-east. The core retail district is further delimited by Silbury and Avebury Boulevards, with civic and office developments outside the Boulevards.
The main feature of the district is the Milton Keynes Central railway station (an inter-city stop on the West Coast Main Line), one of the seven [lower-alpha 3] stations serving the Milton Keynes urban area. Coach services operate from here as well as from the Milton Keynes coachway next to junction 14 of the M1 motorway. Services include the Stagecoach X5 service that replaces the Varsity Line, which links Milton Keynes with Oxford in the west (for connections to the west and Wales) and Cambridge in the east; and the 99 service to Luton Airport, operated by Stagecoach East. The station building houses commercial office lets and food outlets, and the Station Square development includes further office lets and retail outlets.
The bus interchange bays are located at the railway station forecourt. (The former central bus station is located opposite the railway station but has not been operating as such since 1997.[ citation needed ] The upstairs level of the bus station (formerly a night club) accommodates a young peoples' facility, 'the Buszy'. This includes an award-winning covered "urban" skate-boarding area, which has attracted international 'skaters' and film crews).
The former England National Hockey Stadium was located on a site to the north of the station, surrounded by a number of important retail units. Having been vacated, this was demolished in early 2010 and the site redeveloped as the Quadrant:MK, the headquarters for Network Rail. [28] To the south of the station, there is another leisure and retail area – the Leisure Plaza, notably the Planet Ice Arena (home of Milton Keynes Lightning) and what was another ten-pin bowling alley.
Central Milton Keynes is a civil parish, [lower-alpha 4] bordering (clockwise from north) Great Linford, Campbell Park (civil parish), Loughton, and Bradwell. [29] The parish was created in 2001, and had a population of 2,726 according to the 2011 census. [1]
For the 2001 Census, the Office for National Statistics designated an urban sub-area that it called "Central Milton Keynes". This was far bigger than either the district or the parish. Since the 2011 Census, this nomenclature is no longer used.
Locations around Central Milton Keynes were used for the movie Superman IV: The Quest for Peace , where it played the part of the United Nations building. Recognisable locations include Milton Keynes Central, CBX and the Argos (now Home Retail Group) building on Avebury Boulevard. [30]
Milton Keynes is a city in Buckinghamshire, England, about 50 miles (80 km) north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of its urban area was 264,349. The River Great Ouse forms the northern boundary of the urban area; a tributary, the River Ouzel, meanders through its linear parks and balancing lakes. Approximately 25% of the urban area is parkland or woodland and includes two Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs).
The City of Milton Keynes is a unitary authority area with both borough and city status, in Buckinghamshire. It is the northernmost district of the South East England Region. The borough abuts Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire and the remainder of Buckinghamshire.
Newport Pagnell is a town and civil parish in the City of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The Office for National Statistics records Newport Pagnell as part of the Milton Keynes urban area.
Bletchley is a constituent town of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. It is situated in the south-west of the city, and is split between the civil parishes of Bletchley and Fenny Stratford and West Bletchley. In 2011, the two parishes had a combined population of 37,114.
Great Linford is a historic village, district and wider civil parish in the north of Milton Keynes, England, between Wolverton and Newport Pagnell, and roughly 2 miles (3.2 km) north of Central Milton Keynes.
Wolverton is a constituent town of Milton Keynes, England. It is located in the north-west of the city, beside the West Coast Main Line, the Grand Union Canal and the river Great Ouse. It is the administrative seat of Wolverton and Greenleys civil parish.
Denbigh is a district in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England, to the north of Fenny Stratford and on the eastern side of the West Coast Main Line. It is in the civil parish of Bletchley and Fenny Stratford and is categorised by the Office for National Statistics as part of the Bletchley built-up area. The A5 forms its eastern and northern boundary; parts of Bletcham Way and Saxon St form its southern boundary. The overall district has five sub districts, divided by Watling St/Denbigh Rd, the 'uptick' of Bletcham Way and Grafton Street, and Saxon Street northbound. The district names are planning designations that have persisted without ever being changed to the style "North Denbigh" etc. as is the norm elsewhere in Britain.
Milton Keynes Central railway station serves Milton Keynes and surrounding parts of Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire (England). The station is located on the West Coast Main Line about 50 miles (80 km) northwest of London. The station is served by Avanti West Coast intercity services, and by West Midlands Trains regional services.
Campbell Park is the name of the central park for Milton Keynes (England) and an electoral ward of the civil parish of Central Milton Keynes..
The Milton Keynes redway system is an over 200 miles network of shared use paths for cyclists and pedestrians in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. It is generally surfaced with red tarmac, and criss-crosses most of the city.
In January 2004, Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott announced the United Kingdom government's Expansion plans for Milton Keynes. However, the change of government in 2010 and the abolition of the Regional Spatial Strategy in 2012/13 saw these plans revoked and a planned expansion of up to 44,000 dwellings reduced to 28,000. The Milton Keynes Core Strategy was published in July 2013 and regards the figure of 28,000 new homes to be the minimum figure.
Xscape is a brand name for buildings developed by X-Leisure, now part of Land Securities. Typically they contain a real snow indoor ski slope, leisure facilities and related shops. As of 2017, there are two members of the chain, located in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire and Castleford, Yorkshire. A former member in Scotland has been sold. Xscape Milton Keynes and Xscape Yorkshire were designed by FaulknerBrowns Architects.
The Central Milton Keynes shopping area is a regional shopping centre located in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England which is about 50 miles (80 km) north-west of London. It comprises two adjacent shopping centres, thecentre:mk which opened in 1979, and Midsummer Place opened in 2000. The centre:mk is anchored by John Lewis and Marks & Spencer. The complex is the 14th largest shopping centre in the UK, with the size of 120,773 sq metres.
This history of Milton Keynes details its development from the earliest human settlements, through the plans for a 'new city' for 250,000 people in northern Southeast England, its subsequent urban design and development, to the present day. Milton Keynes, founded in 1967, is the largest settlement and only city in Buckinghamshire. At the 2021 census, the population of its urban area was estimated to have exceeded 256,000.
Milton Keynes City Council is the local authority of the City of Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire, England. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. It has both borough status and city status. The borough, which extend beyond the ONS-defined Milton Keynes urban area and encompasses a substantial rural component, is divided into 19 wards, electing 57 councillors.
The Milton Keynes grid road system is a network of predominantly national speed limit, fully landscaped routes that form the top layer of the street hierarchy for both private and public transport in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire. The system is unique in the United Kingdom for its innovative use of street hierarchy principles: the grid roads run in between districts rather than through them. This arrangement permits higher speed limits due to the absence of buildings close to the roads – although more recently some have been limited in part to 40 mph (64 km/h). The grid road system also serves an important purpose of discouraging through-traffic from travelling through neighbourhoods and thus reduces traffic noise and pollution in pedestrian areas. Motor traffic is segregated from pedestrian and leisure cycling traffic, which uses the alternative Milton Keynes redway system. Almost all grid junctions are roundabouts, and the absence of traffic lights enables free and efficient movement of traffic.
The Milton Keynes Coachway is a Coachway interchange close to junction 14 of the M1 motorway on the eastern edge of Milton Keynes, north Buckinghamshire, England. It supports National Express intercity coach services to cities, towns and airports on the M1, and on into Scotland, to Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and Luton Airports, as well as Stagecoach East's route X5 between Oxford and Bedford, and interchange between these services. There are also local bus services and nearby, a park and ride site. It is the second busiest coach station in the United Kingdom. Dating from 1989, it was the first of the UK's Coachway interchanges.
Church of Christ the Cornerstone is an Ecumenical church in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire. It was completed in 1991 and has the Church of England, the Baptist Union, the Methodist Church, the Roman Catholic Church and the United Reformed Church working together to share the space. It is situated in Central Milton Keynes on Saxon Gate, between Midsummer and Silbury boulevards, with the Fred Roche Memorial Gardens behind it. It was the first ecumenical metro centre church in the United Kingdom.
Loughton and Great Holm is a civil parish in the City of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. It includes the districts of Loughton, Great Holm, the National Bowl and Elfield Park, West Rooksley, Loughton Lodge, and Knowlhill. It is bordered by H4 Dansteed Way to the north, V4 Watling Street to the west, a tiny stretch of H8 Standing Way to the south, and the West Coast Main Line to the east. Originally named Loughton, it was renamed to Loughton and Great Holm in 2013
Eagle Farm is a district of south-east Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire, England, within the Wavendon civil parish. It was constructed to help the Milton Keynes urban area with its rapid increase in demand for housing. The site is part of the "Eastern Expansion Area" of Milton Keynes, identified in 2004 by the then government. The district has a primary school, St Mary's C of E Primary, with space for 600 pupils. As of October 2020, the district is currently undergoing further development and construction, and is predicted to reach 2,900 homes as it grows.
⚠ Sheep are back in Campbell Park - October 2019. Please can we urge all dog walkers and owners to please ensure dogs are kept on lead in any of our grazing fields in these areas. We appreciate your support in looking after our sheep.