Up to 16,000 homes being considered in our area.

Milton Keynes City Council (MKCC) are currently drafting an updated strategic local development plan – the New City Plan (NCP) - that will replace the current Plan:MK.

The NCP has an overall objective of delivering an additional 63,000 homes across the city by 2050 to support the vision of “MK Strategy 2050”, for a city of half-a-million people.
 

30,000 of these dwellings are already planned for - including the development at MK East and others areas across the city – but space for an additional 33,000 homes needs to be found within the NCP.
 

A number of options and areas are under consideration and the details are not being shared by MKCC despite the request of several Parish Councils and our Ward Councillors. One of these is for a substantial development, called MK North, of up to 16,000 homes with both old and new Haversham, plus Little Linford, being absorbed into an urban development stretching as far as Tathall End and over the motorway towards Gayhurst (see map). In addition, up to 2,700 houses could be added into Hanslope and around a further 200 in Castlethorpe. Further afield there are other proposals for significant housing around Olney, Chicheley and Moulsoe.
 

Whilst we are currently being told that the MK North expansion is not the MKCC preferred option and more sites have been put forward than are needed, we cannot afford to be complacent. In the upcoming public consultations (the first expected in July 2024 and the second in early 2025) or during the examination by a Planning Inspector (expected to start in May 2025), things can change and proposals previously “rejected” can be added back in.

 

As many of you know, most of the rural land in and around the Parish is owned by, or optioned to, a variety of developers, who will of course be promoting their land for housing development.

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The Parish Council continue to keep a close eye on the process, and to press for much better information from MKCC. We resolved at our February PC meeting that we will make strong representations to MKCC regarding the potential development of MK North, as part of the NCP, to ensure that any site allocation was appropriate in terms of scale and location and aligns with the ambition of our Neighbourhood Plan to maintain HcLL as a predominately rural Parish.

 

Furthermore, we resolved to work collaboratively with neighbouring Parish Councils, Ward Councillors and elected MPs to help achieve this outcome.

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We will be keeping residents informed as we hear more, via both this magazine and Facebook, but if you want to find out more or just to have a more detailed conversation, then please reach out by the usual routes.

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Everyone can respond to the upcoming public consultations, not just the Parish Council.

We will all need to make our voices heard if we want to protect our rural landscape for future generations.

 

Richard Pryor Chair HcLL Parish Council and Planning Lead