Milton Keynes Development Corporation (MKDC) was adevelopment corporation operating from 1967 to 1992 to oversee the planning and early development ofMilton Keynes, then a plannednew town midway betweenLondon andBirmingham. At designation, the area within thedesignated area was home to some 40,000 people in the existing towns and villages.[1]
MKDC was established on 23 January 1967 to deliver a "new city" that would be the modern interpretation of thegarden city movement concepts first expressed byEbenezer Howard 60 years earlier.[2][3]It was headquartered in Wavendon Tower, in the village ofWavendon on the eastern edge of the city.
Situated in the north ofBuckinghamshire near the borders withNorthamptonshire andBedfordshire, Milton Keynes would be a "city in the trees" – the planning guideline for residential areas outsideCentral 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.[4][5][a]
The vision that the urban design consultants set out inThePlan for Milton Keynes implied that the architects and engineers should learn from the mistakes made in the earliernew towns and build a city that people would be proud to call their home.[7] It was placed where it would have the advantages of a direct motorway (theM1) and rail link (theWest Coast Main Line) with the capital city,London, and the second cityBirmingham; both 50–60 miles (80–100 km) away. The task of MKDC was to give effect to the grand principles of thePlan.
Following publication of theDraft Master Plan for Milton Keynes,[8] the government appointedLord Campbell of Eskan ("Jock" Campbell) 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 consultantsRichard Llewellyn Davies and partners, who produced the overall development plan,[9] with its grid pattern of distributor roads at roughly 1 kilometre (0.6 mi) intervals. When the planning enquiries were over, it was time for a different type of CEO andFred Roche took over in 1970. Llewellyn Davies, with colleaguesWalter Bor,John de Monchaux and Suzanne Beauchamp de Monchaux continued to contribute to the development of strategy.,[10]
In 1980, Frank Henshaw took over from Fred Roche.[11] Lord Campbell was succeeded bySir Henry Chilver in 1983.[12]
MKDC promoted theHomeworld 81 exhibition in 1981, thirty-six houses showcasing"the latest developments in housing from international designers, architects and builders",[13] andEnergy World, a demonstration project of 51 low-energy houses completed in 1986.
The Government wound up MKDC in 1992 after 25 years, transferring control to theCommission for New Towns, latterly part ofEnglish Partnerships, which subsequently merged with theHousing Corporation to become theHomes and Communities Agency (HCA). Control over design passed toMilton 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 theMilton Keynes Parks Trust, a registered charity.[14]
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