City of Milton Keynes | |
|---|---|
 Coat of arms | |
| Motto(s): By knowledge, design and understanding | |
 City of Milton Keynes, shown within Buckinghamshire and England | |
 Interactive map of City of Milton Keynes | |
| Coordinates:52°02′N0°46′W / 52.03°N 0.77°W /52.03; -0.77 | |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Constituent country | England |
| Region | South East |
| Ceremonial county | Buckinghamshire |
| Incorporated | 1 April 1974 |
| Government | |
| • Type | Unitary authority |
| • Governing body | Milton Keynes City Council |
| • MPs | Chris Curtis(Lab) (Milton Keynes North) Emily Darlington(Lab) (Milton Keynes Central) Callum Anderson(Lab) Buckingham and Bletchley |
| Area | |
• Total | 309 km2 (119 sq mi) |
| Population (2024)[2] | |
• Total | 305,884 |
| • Rank | 50th |
| • Density | 991/km2 (2,570/sq mi) |
| Postcode | |
| Area code | 01908 |
| ISO 3166 code | GB-MIK |
| GSS code | E06000042 |
| Website | milton-keynes |
TheCity of Milton Keynes is aborough inBuckinghamshire, England. The borough was created in 1974 and is named after its main settlement,Milton Keynes, which had been designated as anew town seven years earlier in 1967. It is the northernmost district of theSouth East EnglandRegion. The borough abutsBedfordshire,Northamptonshire and the remainder of Buckinghamshire.[a] The borough was awardedcity status in 2022. It is administered byMilton Keynes City Council, which has been aunitary authority since 1997.
The principal built-up area in the borough is theMilton Keynes urban area, which accounts for about 20% of its area and 90% of its population. The borough also includes many rural areas surrounding the Milton Keynes urban area, especially to the north, containing several villages and the town ofOlney. At the 2021 census, the population of the borough was just over 287,000.[3]
The district was created on 1 April 1974 under theLocal Government Act 1972, covering the whole area of four former districts and part of a fifth, which were all abolished at the same time:[4]
The new district was named Milton Keynes after the new town which had been designated in 1967, covering a large area in the south of the new district.[5][6] The district was givenborough status from its creation, allowing the chair of the council to take the title ofmayor.[7]
As established in 1974, the borough of Milton Keynes was one of fivenon-metropolitan districts ofBuckinghamshire, withBuckinghamshire County Council providing county-level services to the area. On 1 April 1997, Milton Keynes became a self-governingunitary authority by being redefined as its ownnon-metropolitan county, independent from Buckinghamshire County Council.[8] Milton Keynes remains part of theceremonial county of Buckinghamshire for the purposes oflieutenancy.[9]
On 15 August 2022,letters patent were issued giving the borough thestatus of a city, allowing the council to change its name toMilton Keynes City Council.[10]
Arising from the local government elections of May 2024, the borough is governed by aLabour administration. TheLiberal Democrat party is the main opposition group.
In the2024 electionLabour gained 4 seats to become the majority party, having previously been part of a joint Labour-Lib-Dem run administration.
The borough is fully parished, withover 50 parishes.
According to data from theOffice for National Statistics for 2017, the borough was the highest performingNUTS3 region in the UK outside inner London (which takes the first five places), on the basis ofgross value added per head.[11]
Further education in the borough is provided byMilton Keynes College. Forhigher education, theOpen University's headquarters are in Milton Keynes – though, as this is adistance education institution, the only students resident on campus are approximately 200 full-time postgraduates. A campus of theUniversity of Bedfordshire located in Central Milton Keynes, provides conventionalundergraduate courses.
Cranfield University is the academic partner in project with Milton Keynes City Council to establish a new university, code-named "MK:U", on a reserved site in the city centre.[12] As of January 2022[update], the project is stalled pending assurance of government funding.[13]
At the 2021 census, the population of the borough was 287,060.[3] This was an increase of 15.3% from the 2011 census, when the population of the borough was 248,821.[16] By 2050, the City Council projects that the borough's population will reach 410,000.[17]
At the 2021 census, of residents aged 16 and over, 15.8% had no qualifications, 10.9% had a level 1 qualification, 14.2% had level 2, 4.7% were in apprenticeship, 15.7% had level 3, 35.8% had level 4 and 2.9% had other qualifications.
In the 2021 census, almost 71.8% of the population described their ethnic origin as white, 12.3% as Asian, 9.7% as black, 4% as mixed, and 2% as another ethnic group.[18]
| Ethnic Group | Year | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 estimations[19] | 1991 census[19][20] | 2001 census[21] | 2011 census[22] | 2021 census[18] | ||||||
| Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | |
| White: Total | 119,876 | 95.6% | 168,679 | 94.1% | 187,852 | 90.7% | 199,094 | 80% | 206,114 | 71.8% |
| White:British | – | – | – | – | 179,694 | 86.8% | 183,934 | 73.9% | 178,568 | 62.2% |
| White:Irish | – | – | – | – | 2,918 | 2,498 | 2,382 | 0.8% | ||
| White:Gypsy or Irish Traveller | – | – | – | – | – | – | 72 | 156 | 0.1% | |
| White: Roma | – | – | – | – | 578 | 0.2% | ||||
| White:Other | – | – | – | – | 5,240 | 12,590 | 5.1% | 24,430 | 8.5% | |
| Asian or Asian British: Total | 3,073 | 6,127 | 9,406 | 4.5% | 22,782 | 9.2% | 35,645 | 12.3% | ||
| Asian or Asian British:Indian | 1,560 | 2,940 | 3,967 | 1.9% | 8,106 | 3.3% | 15,348 | 5.3% | ||
| Asian or Asian British:Pakistani | 398 | 842 | 1,682 | 0.8% | 3,851 | 1.5% | 7,163 | 2.5% | ||
| Asian or Asian British:Bangladeshi | 388 | 717 | 1,072 | 0.5% | 1,989 | 0.8% | 3,189 | 1.1% | ||
| Asian or Asian British:Chinese | 325 | 688 | 1,835 | 0.9% | 2,722 | 1.1% | 2,913 | 1.0% | ||
| Asian or Asian British: Other Asian | 402 | 940 | 850 | 0.4% | 6,114 | 2.5% | 7,032 | 2.4% | ||
| Black or Black British: Total | 1,722 | 2,972 | 4,986 | 2.4% | 17,131 | 6.9% | 27,851 | 9.7% | ||
| Black or Black British:African | 289 | 548 | 2,596 | 13,058 | 5.2% | 21,502 | 7.5% | |||
| Black or Black British:Caribbean | 1,017 | 1,716 | 1,956 | 2,524 | 2,975 | 1.0% | ||||
| Black or Black British:Other Black | 416 | 708 | 434 | 1,549 | 3,374 | 1.2% | ||||
| Mixed or British Mixed: Total | – | – | – | – | 3,716 | 1.8% | 8,235 | 3.3% | 11,725 | 4% |
| Mixed: White and Black Caribbean | – | – | – | – | 1,347 | 2,243 | 2,997 | 1.0% | ||
| Mixed: White and Black African | – | – | – | – | 477 | 1,597 | 2,551 | 0.9% | ||
| Mixed: White and Asian | – | – | – | – | 1,037 | 2,228 | 2,973 | 1.0% | ||
| Mixed: Other Mixed | – | – | – | – | 855 | 2,167 | 3,204 | 1.1% | ||
| Other: Total | 765 | 1,417 | 1,097 | 0.5% | 1,579 | 0.6% | 5,725 | 2% | ||
| Other: Arab | – | – | – | – | – | – | 565 | 1349 | 0.5% | |
| Other: Any other ethnic group | 765 | 1,417 | 1,097 | 0.5% | 1,014 | 0.4% | 4376 | 1.5% | ||
| Ethnic minority: Total | 5,561 | 4.4% | 10,521 | 5.9% | 19,205 | 9.3% | 49,727 | 20% | 80,946 | 28% |
| Total | 125,437 | 100% | 179,200 | 100% | 207,057 | 100% | 248,821 | 100% | 287,060 | 100% |
The following table shows the religion of respondents in recent censuses in the city of Milton Keynes.
| Religion | 2001 Census[23] | 2011 Census[24] | 2021 Census[25] | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | |
| Christian | 135,715 | 65.54 | 131,352 | 52.79 | 122,935 | 42.83 |
| Muslim | 4,843 | 2.34 | 11,913 | 4.79 | 20,484 | 7.14 |
| Hindu | 2,596 | 1.25 | 6,918 | 2.78 | 12,911 | 4.50 |
| Sikh | 795 | 0.38 | 1,372 | 0.55 | 1,959 | 0.68 |
| Buddhist | 747 | 0.36 | 1,246 | 0.50 | 1,404 | 0.49 |
| Jewish | 466 | 0.23 | 427 | 0.17 | 383 | 0.13 |
| Other religion | 821 | 0.40 | 1,216 | 0.49 | 1,558 | 0.54 |
| No religion | 44,633 | 21.56 | 77,939 | 31.32 | 108,953 | 37.95 |
| Religion not stated | 16,441 | 7.94 | 16,438 | 6.61 | 16,473 | 5.74 |
| Total | 207,057 | 100.00% | 248,821 | 100.00% | 287,060 | 100.00% |
Household tenure breaks down to 60.8% of dwellings owner-occupied, 21% of homes privately rented and 18% are socially rented.[3] Due to the borough's fast-growing population, the City Council plans for a minimum of 26,500 dwellings across the borough over the period between 2016 and 2031, with development primarily focused oncity estates, expansion areas and strategic land locations in the south and east of Milton Keynes,Campbell Park (in CMK) and the three "Key Settlements" outside of the1967 "designated development area" of Milton Keynes: Newport Pagnell, Woburn Sands and Olney.[26]
According toPublic Health England, "The health of people in Milton Keynes is generally similar to the England average. About 15.1% (8,680) children live in low income families. Life expectancy for both men and women is similar to the England average."[27]
The City of Milton Keynes is fullyparished. These are the parishes, and the districts they contain, that are now elements of the Milton Keynes built-up area as defined by theOffice for National Statistics.[28][b]
Bletchley, Central Milton Keynes, Fenny Stratford, Newport Pagnell, Stony Stratford, Woburn Sands and Wolverton are towns.
The rural area accounts for about 80% of the borough by area and about 10% by population. Olney is a town. These are the extra-urban civil parishes:
As of December 2023[update], the borough has 28 designated Neighbourhood Areas, of which 22 have made/adopted Neighbourhood Development Plans approved by the City Council, spanning both urban and rural parishes.[29]
As of 2025[update] theNational Heritage List for England includes 1,166 entries forheritage assets in the City of Milton Keynes. These comprise 1,111listed buildings, of which 30 are at Grade I, 59 Grade II*, and 1,022 Grade II; 5 parks and gardens, of which 3 are grade II* and 2 Grade II; 49Scheduled monuments; and 1 certificate of immunity from listing, forThe Point.[30]
The following people and military units have received theFreedom of the City (from 2022) or Freedom of the Borough (1982–2021).
(2) A new county shall be constituted comprising the area of Milton Keynes and shall be named the county of Milton Keynes.
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