Milton Keynes City Council | |
---|---|
City of Milton Keynes | |
Type | |
Type | |
History | |
Founded | 1 April 1974 |
Leadership | |
Michael Bracey since 26 October 2018 | |
Structure | |
Seats | 57 councillors |
Political groups |
|
Elections | |
Last election | 2 May 2024 |
Next election | 7 May 2026 |
Meeting place | |
Civic Offices, 1 Saxon Gate East, Milton Keynes, MK9 3EJ | |
Website | |
milton-keynes |
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 [2] and encompasses a substantial rural component, is divided into 19 wards, electing 57 councillors.
The 'Milton Keynes District' was created on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, by the merger of Bletchley Urban District, Newport Pagnell Urban District, Wolverton Urban District, Newport Pagnell Rural District and that part of Winslow Rural District within the designated New Town area. The council was formed under the same act as the Milton Keynes District Council, subsidiary to Buckinghamshire County Council. The council was first elected in 1973, a year before formally coming into its powers on 1 April 1974, on which day the new district was also given borough status, entitling the council to be known as Milton Keynes Borough Council and to appoint a (ceremonial) Mayor of Milton Keynes. [3] [4]
It was envisaged through the Local Government Act 1972 that Milton Keynes as a non-metropolitan district council would share power with the then Buckinghamshire County Council (since replaced by Buckinghamshire Council, another unitary authority). This arrangement lasted until 1997 when the district council gained responsibility for services that had previously been provided for Milton Keynes by the county council. On 1 April 1997, following a recommendation of the Local Government Commission for England, the Borough became a self-governing Unitary Authority, [5] and the council renamed itself Milton Keynes Council.
The borough gained city status on 15 August 2022. Milton Keynes Council therefore changed its name to Milton Keynes City Council, and amended its logo to emphasise the new status.
The local council derives its powers and functions from the Local Government Act 1972 and subsequent legislation. For the purposes of local government, Milton Keynes is within a non-metropolitan area of England. In its capacity as a district council it is a billing authority collecting Council Tax and business rates, it processes local planning applications, it is responsible for housing, waste collection and environmental health. In its capacity as a county council it is a local education authority and is responsible for social services, libraries and waste disposal. The council also appoints members to Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue Authority and the Thames Valley Police and Crime Panel, both of which serve the borough.
The first election to the district council was held in 1973, initially operating as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities until it came into its powers on 1 April 1974. Political control of the council since 1974 has been as follows: [6] [7]
Non-metropolitan district
Party in control | Years | |
---|---|---|
Labour | 1974–1976 | |
Conservative | 1976–1982 | |
No overall control | 1982–1990 | |
Labour | 1990–1992 | |
No overall control | 1992–1996 | |
Labour | 1996–1997 |
Unitary authority
Party in control | Years | |
---|---|---|
Labour | 1997–2000 | |
No overall control | 2000–2002 | |
Liberal Democrats | 2002–2006 | |
No overall control | 2006–2024 | |
Labour | 2024–present |
The council was under no overall control from 2006 to 2024. From May 2014 to May 2021, the Labour Party held office as a minority administration. Since May 2021, the administration is a Labour Party and Liberal Democrat "progressive alliance". [8]
The role of mayor is largely ceremonial in Milton Keynes. Political leadership is instead provided by the leader of the council. The leaders since 2000 have been: [9]
Councillor | Party | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Norman Miles | Labour | 23 May 2000 | 22 May 2002 | |
Isobel Wilson (called Isobel McCall after 2005) | Liberal Democrats | 22 May 2002 | 19 May 2009 | |
Sam Crooks | Liberal Democrats | 19 May 2009 | 25 May 2010 | |
Cec Tallack | Liberal Democrats | 25 May 2010 | 24 May 2011 | |
Andrew Geary | Conservative | 24 May 2011 | 11 Jun 2014 | |
Peter Marland | Labour | 11 Jun 2014 |
Following the 2024 election, [10] the composition of the council was:
Party | Councillors | |
---|---|---|
Labour | 27 | |
Liberal Democrats | 16 | |
Conservative | 14 | |
Total | 57 |
The next election is due to be held in 2026.
In recent years, the council has promoted the city as a test-bed for experimental urban technologies. The most well-known of these is the Starship Technologies' (largely) autonomous delivery robots: Milton Keynes provided its world-first urban deployment of these units. By November 2020, said Starship, Milton Keynes had the 'world's largest autonomous robot fleet' [11] Other projects include the LUTZ Pathfinder pod, an autonomous (self-driving) vehicle built by the Transport Systems Catapult. Trials took place in Milton Keynes in 2016. [12] [13]
Milton Keynes City Council has had two logos:
The first logo was the oak leaf which was used since the 1990s.
The second logo is more colourful than the previous version, and consists of the two letters M and K, representing Milton Keynes. The 'M' is coloured in azure and 'K' is coloured in green: this is the logo that is currently in use, with a recent revision to change the font and text accompanying it to mark Milton Keynes' city status.
The headquarters of the council, including the council chamber, is the Civic Offices building at 1 Saxon Gate East in Central Milton Keynes. The building dates from 1979 and was designed by architects Faulkner Brown. [14] The building is sited very close to the moot mound (meeting place) of the Anglo-Saxon Sigelai (or Secklow) Hundred. [15]
In May 2017, the City Council approved plans to build an 18m (59ft)-high warehouse in Blakelands, with the warehouse (which was constructed in 2018) being criticised by local residents as "oppressive", and there were concerns about planning malpractice, including the lack of a noise barrier and the retention of trees and hedges. [16] In February 2019, the Council commissioned external planning expert Marc Dorfman to review the decision, although the report was not complete due to Dorfman's resignation later that year. Following this, the Council appointed independent barrister Tim Straker to carry out an independent report, with the report (published in 2021) finding that while planning conditions were missed as a result of "human error", there was "no untoward conduct." [17]
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial county in South East England and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-east, Hertfordshire to the east, Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, and Oxfordshire to the west. The largest settlement is the city of Milton Keynes, and the county town is Aylesbury.
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 subdivisions of England constitute a hierarchy of administrative divisions and non-administrative ceremonial areas.
The districts of England are a level of subnational division of England used for the purposes of local government. As the structure of local government in England is not uniform, there are currently four principal types of district-level subdivision. There are a total of 296 districts made up of 36 metropolitan boroughs, 32 London boroughs, 164 two-tier non-metropolitan districts and 62 unitary authorities, as well as the City of London and the Isles of Scilly which are also districts, but do not correspond to any of these other categories. Some districts are styled as cities, boroughs or royal boroughs; these are purely honorific titles and do not alter the status of the district or the powers of their councils. All boroughs and cities are led by a mayor who in most cases is a ceremonial figure elected by the district council, but—after local government reform—is occasionally a directly elected mayor who makes most of the policy decisions instead of the council.
A metropolitan borough is a type of local government district in England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972, metropolitan boroughs are defined in English law as metropolitan districts within metropolitan counties. All of the metropolitan districts have been granted or regranted royal charters giving them borough status. Metropolitan boroughs have been effectively unitary authority areas since the abolition of metropolitan county councils by the Local Government Act 1985. Metropolitan boroughs pool much of their authority in joint boards and other arrangements that cover whole metropolitan counties, such as Local enterprise partnerships and Combined authorities and combined county authorities, with most of the latter having a directly elected metropolitan mayor.
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.
A non-metropolitan county, or colloquially, shire county, is a subdivision of England used for local government.
Buckingham is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2019 by Greg Smith, a Conservative.
Newport Pagnell was a rural district in the administrative county of Buckinghamshire, England, from 1894 to 1974, covering an area in the north-east of the county.
Non-metropolitan districts, or colloquially "shire districts", are a type of local government district in England. As created, they are sub-divisions of non-metropolitan counties in a two-tier arrangement. Non-metropolitan districts with borough status are known as boroughs, able to appoint a mayor and refer to itself as a borough council.
Milton Keynes North is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since the 2019 United Kingdom general election by Ben Everitt, a Conservative. At that election, it was one of two constituencies covering the City of Milton Keynes unitary authority area.
The unitary authorities of England are a type of local authority responsible for all local government services in an area. They combine the functions of a non-metropolitan county council and a non-metropolitan district council, which elsewhere in England provide two tiers of local government.
The Local Government Commission for England was the body responsible for reviewing the structure of local government in England from 1992 to 2002. It was established under the Local Government Act 1992, replacing the Local Government Boundary Commission for England. The Commission could be ordered by the Secretary of State to undertake "structural reviews" in specified areas and recommend the creation of unitary authorities in the two-tier shire counties of England. The Commission, chaired by John Banham, conducted a review of all the non-metropolitan counties of England from 1993 to 1994, making various recommendations on their future.
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.
Newport Pagnell Urban District was a local government district in the administrative county of Buckinghamshire, England, from 1897 to 1974.
Bletchley Urban District was an urban district covering the town of Bletchley in the administrative county of Buckinghamshire, England from 1911 to 1974. The district had been created in 1895 as Fenny Stratford Urban District, being renamed to Bletchley Urban District in 1911.
Milton Keynes City Council is the local authority for the City of Milton Keynes, a unitary authority in Buckinghamshire, England. Until 1 April 1997 it was a non-metropolitan district.
Structural changes to local government in England took place between 2019 and 2023. Some of these changes continue the trend of new unitary authorities being created from other types of local government districts, which was a policy of Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick from 2019.
Buckinghamshire Council is the local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Buckinghamshire in England. It is a unitary authority, performing both county and district-level functions. It was created on 1 April 2020, replacing the previous Buckinghamshire County Council and the councils of the four abolished districts of Aylesbury Vale, Chiltern, South Bucks, and Wycombe. The non-metropolitan county is smaller than the ceremonial county, which additionally includes Milton Keynes.
(2) A new county shall be constituted comprising the area of Milton Keynes and shall be named the county of Milton Keynes.