History of Milton Keynes

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 is the largest settlement and only city in Buckinghamshire, founded in 1967. At the 2021 census, the population of its urban area was estimated to have exceeded 256,000. In the 1960s, the UK Government decided that a further generation of new towns in the South East of England was needed to relieve housing congestion in London. Since the 1950s, overspill housing for several London boroughs had been constructed in Bletchley. Further studies in the 1960s identified north Buckinghamshire as a possible site for a large new town, a new city, encompassing the existing towns of Bletchley, Fenny Stratford, Stony Stratford, and Wolverton. (The nearby towns of Newport Pagnell and Woburn Sands, then clearly separate, were outside the designated area but, by 2001 and 2011 respectively, both had become part of the Milton Keynes urban area.) The New Town (informally and in planning documents referred to as 'New City') was to be the biggest yet, with a target population of 250,000, in a 'designated area' of . The name 'Milton Keynes' was taken from that of an existing village on the site. The area to be developed was largely farmland and undeveloped villages. Before construction began, every area was subject to detailed archaeological investigation: doing so has exposed a rich history of human settlement since Neolithic times and has provided a unique insight into the history and archaeology of a large sample of the landscape of north Buckinghamshire. From its establishment in 1967 to its abolition in 1992, the Milton Keynes Development Corporation created by far the largest and thus most ambitious of the British new towns. Many of Britain's most acclaimed building and landscape architects contributed to what was to be a showpiece of British design.