Future Plans

Since designation in 1967, Milton Keynes has continued to grow and is now home to over 200,000 people.

The Government’s Sustainable Communities Plan (2003) recognised that Milton Keynes has the potential to become a major regional centre in the heart of England - a city of some 350,00 people. Milton Keynes Partnership was established in June 2004 to help bring forward the sustainable growth of Milton Keynes.

Milton Keynes is in the South-East region of England and future growth will be underpinned by the South-East Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS) currently in draft (autumn 2006). In order to guide this change over the longer term the Government asked Milton Keynes Partnership to prepare a long-term vision for the new city which would feed into the RSS. This work had to look far enough ahead to provide a platform for major economic and cultural development and to take into account the qualitative and quantitative changes required in education, health and social care alongside major physical infrastructure.

This long-term vision – the MK2031 Project – involved five Local Authorities, local communities within Milton Keynes and the surrounding rural areas in Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire, voluntary organisations, statutory providers and private-sector businesses. The MK2031 project brief was approved in December 2004 and the work was completed at the end of June 2006. It was undertaken by a team of consultants led by GVA Grimley which included EDAW, ECOTEC and Atkins. The four stages of the project are set out on the MK2031 page and all documents relating to it can be seen on the MK2031 documents page.

The South-East Regional Spatial Strategy will undergo an examination-in-public which begins in November 2006. Milton Keynes Partnership submitted the outcome of the MK2031 project on 22 June 2006 as advisory background information for the examination.