Future Cities Forum 'New towns and the OxCam Growth Corridor' at Milton Keynes

Image: Milton Keynes, courtesy of BBC News

Future Cities Forum will be holding its 'New towns and the OxCam growth corridor' discussion with the Leader of Milton Keynes City Council this March.

The forum will include government, investors, land-owners / developers, planners and architects and among the topics for discussion will be the New Towns Taskforce recommendations of a major new settlement at Tempsford, Bedfordshire and a 'renewed town' expansion of Milton Keynes, with up to 40,000 new homes.

We will also be debating the opportunities of new expanded settlements along the line of East West Rail stations and the new concept of 'forest towns'. The proposal of 'intensification' of existing areas such as Waterbeach in Cambridge will additionally be discussed.

The UK government is backing the idea of a sustainable high-growth region, but concerns remain around water scarcity, infrastructure delivery and community approval.

Last October, the Government announced that it was going ' further and faster on growth' with over £500 million investment in new homes, infrastructure and business space for the Oxford to Cambridge Growth Corridor, highlighting the recently stated opening of the Cowley rail line which it said would support 10,000 new jobs and homes in Oxford.

It also said this investment was part of the Government's commitment to regional growth which will help turn the Oxford to Cambridge Corridor into Europe's Silicon Valley.

The previous month, the government said it had confirmed 'it would progress work on the next generation of new towns across England, following publication of an independent report that recommends 12 locations as potential new towns.

The government is determined to begin building in at least three new towns in this Parliament and is prepared to progress work on a far larger range of locations if it proves possible.'

'A New Towns Unit will also be established by the government to progress development on new towns. The Unit will work with all departments and their agencies to ensure new towns are a test bed for innovation and to unblock barriers to delivery.' 

The Leader of Milton Keynes City Council, Pete Marland told Future Cities Forum at the time of the November Budget:

'I think that the Arc is still a concept that is searching for a purpose. From a Bedfordshire Luton Milton Keynes - BLMK - point of view which is our prospective combined authority, the recent investment prospectus for the Oxford Cambridge Arc was quite disappointing as it was very much focused on biosciences here, hi-tec there. That leaves the middle as an enabler for the two ends when MK is the 7th biggest economy in the region.

'However, it should be noted that we will get in Bedford with the Universal studios theme park the biggest inward investment for the UK, that Luton Airport is expanding and also the new towns at Tempsford and MK. All of that is going on in the centre. The only reference was that Silverstone got a mention, and it is already an investment zone.

'As I mentioned in our last discussion the nailing down of funding for East West Rail is essential. Now we have that, it is important that we get these trains running, first from Oxford to Milton Keynes via Bicester and then Bedford, Universal and onto Cambridge.'

Cllr Marland was also asked about the new local plan system, announced after the Budget by the Minister for Housing and Planning, Matthew Pennycook MP, and which is due to launch in early 2026

'We already have a local plan and have delivered housing at a rate - 3,000 units per annum - that other places can only dream of on growth. Our plan is 400 units more than it needs to be. However the new ruling on planning is important as it provides clarity and certainty for councils. If you have not cracked on under old rules you will have to do so under the new rules. Planning is only half of the story though.

'I did a round table with Sir Michael Lyons last week and if you add up all the houses in the prospective new towns plan - twelve towns in total - then that is only a third of the 1.5 million new homes designated for this parliament. Not all of these new towns will be started in this parliament. People don't live in planning permissions, they live in bricks and mortar. There needs to be more talk of delivery. If everyone built like Milton Keynes there wouldn't be a problem. Milton Keynes East now has a name with 10,000 units with school and health centre built ahead of need - this does not happen everywhere.

'On building beautiful - it can be seen as a bit snobbish. The same developments take place everywhere. Design can always be improved. Small developers have been squeezed out since the sub-prime crash. We are overly dependent on the big firms like Barratt and Persimmon who are good at what they do.. We ought not to tell these firms what they do is wrong but rather provide space for smaller developers. There need to be other archetypes available.'

Join us for this important forum discussion at the council offices in Milton Keynes.