# Talk:History of Milton Keynes

Useful source from today's Telegraph:

Woodman, Ellis (2007-08-06). "Why Milton Keynes is a family favourite". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 2007-08-06. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
SeveroTC 17:17, 6 August 2007 (UTC)

I was cleaning up units, when I cam across these discrepancies...

"the designated area was 25,200 acres (10,200 ha), smaller than the 27,000 acres (11,000 ha) in the Draft Order"
"When the boundary of Milton Keynes was defined, some 40,000 people lived in the "designated area" of 88.51 km² (21,833 acres)."
Recently on the Milton Keynes article, the 25,200 figure was questioned an I'm unsure of the source on that. The Plan for Milton Keynes (Volume 1, Chapter 1, paragraph 2 page 3) states that the draft designation order was made for "10,500 hectares (25,000 acres)" in 1966, and in 1967 the designation of "9,000 hectares (22,000 acres)" was made. What's the source for the larger figures? SeveroTC 00:43, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

I've cited a precise figure from the MK Statistics Office.  21,850 is 'about' 22,000.  I have no idea where the 25000 figure came from.  --John Maynard Friedman (talk) 17:18, 9 April 2008 (UTC)
I wonder if the 25000 figure represents the intial proposal that would have included Calverton?  But the article currently gives an unsourced figure of 27,000 as the original proposal.  So I think you ought to change the 27000 to 25000 and give your citation for the correction. --John Maynard Friedman (talk) 16:54, 10 April 2008 (UTC)
25,000 is the figure of the Draft Designation Order, 22,000 is of the Designation Order proper. 25,200 may be a more precise figure for the Draft DO. 27,000 though? No idea! SeveroTC 19:38, 10 April 2008 (UTC)
Just quote exactly what it says in the source.  I don't have it, so I can't do it. --John Maynard Friedman (talk) 12:10, 11 April 2008 (UTC)

I notice that History of Sheffield reached FA this time last year, so it is a good indicator of the standard that we have to reach. --John Maynard Friedman (talk) 16:47, 10 April 2008 (UTC)

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not enough significant coverage for a standalone article — Your local Sink Cat (The Sink). 05:47, 30 December 2024 (UTC)

Oppose merge into History of Milton Keynes as it would be wildly wp:undue in that article, way too trivial. If it is to be merged anywhere, OneMK (née MK News) is the only sensible recipient, as it is already mentioned there. --𝕁𝕄𝔽 (talk) 17:23, 30 December 2024 (UTC) revised 17:37, 30 December 2024 (UTC)
@JMF Thanks! Shall I propose the merge there instead?
— Your local Sink Cat (The Sink). 22:16, 30 December 2024 (UTC)
Don't bother to propose. It is an uncontroversial merge, you can just do it. 𝕁𝕄𝔽 (talk) 10:25, 31 December 2024 (UTC)
  Y Merge completed Klbrain (talk) 10:20, 2 January 2025 (UTC)

It has been a while since this has been reviewed, so I took a look and noticed the following:

There are lots of uncited statements, including an entire section
The "Milestones" section should be in prose (not a list) and be integrated into the other sections.
Should this article go to WP:GAR? Z1720 (talk) 00:05, 4 June 2025 (UTC)

Can you identify the uncited section, please? And attach {{cn}}s to the uncited statements?
Which is what a GAR would do but needlessly require the attention of more editors. GAR is more usually appropriate for serious problems of content (in this case, the 'milestones' list might be an example: is it encyclopedic? wp:trivia? Move out to a list article?) that have crept in over time so as to make the article have 'lost focus' and in need of substantial reconstructive surgery. WP:Mandy Rice-Davies applies of course, but I'm not seeing that level of deviation from WP:GA standards. 𝕁𝕄𝔽 (talk) 10:58, 4 June 2025 (UTC)
@JMF: I have added the citation needed tags. After taking a closer look at the article, I realise that many of the "Milestones" listed are either WP:TMI (the first LEGO store opening) or should be in their own sections (Sports) or moved to other sections (History). The lead also needs to be expanded upon. I'm not sure what the "Overview" section is describing, and seems like this should be merged with the lead or retitled. The lead also needs to be expanded upon to cover all major aspects of the article. Please ping me if editors would like me to re-review once concerns are addressed. Z1720 (talk) 14:21, 4 June 2025 (UTC)
Thank you, I will investigate. 𝕁𝕄𝔽 (talk) 16:05, 4 June 2025 (UTC)
@Z1720: You weren't wrong, the article had accreted a few too many uncited recollections that I couldn't support from  RSs, so I have removed them. I have resolved all the {{cite}} omissions you identified. So please give it a fresh read to see where further improvements could or should be made. 𝕁𝕄𝔽 (talk) 20:18, 6 June 2025 (UTC)


### Milestones since 1967
Per the discussion above, I have removed this section from the article, as it is not encyclopedic. But I thought it worth preserving here as it may be of use to someone in the future. 
1960s

1961 Census: Population of districts to become (in 1974) the District of Milton Keynes = 52,931 
1967 Designation of the New Town
1969 The Open University moves to its new headquarters in Walton Hall.
1970s

1970
First section of new city grid road system (H2 Millers Way eastbound from V4 Watling Street).
The Stables presents its first concert.
1971
First major MKDC housing scheme (Galley Hill, Stony Stratford).
1971 Census: Population of future District of Milton Keynes = 65,925; population of designated area = 46,500
1974
Stantonbury Campus opens; (now called "Stantonbury School")
first major grid road (V8 Marlborough Street connects Bletchley to Stantonbury (for New Bradwell and Wolverton);
work begins on the Shopping Building (now The Centre:MK);
the first balancing lake (Willen Lake) is finished.
Borough of Milton Keynes created (as a district under Buckinghamshire County Council until 1997)
1975 The first office building in Central Milton Keynes (Lloyds Court) opens.
1979
First concert at Milton Keynes Bowl (Desmond Dekker/Geno Washington);
Margaret Thatcher opens the Shopping Building.
1980s

1980
A5D opens, bypassing Watling Street;
Peace Pagoda dedicated at Willen.
1981
Homeworld 81, Central Library, Willen Hospice
1981 Census: Population of the Borough of Milton Keynes = 122,351; population of designated area 95,800
1982 Milton Keynes Central railway station officially open.
1983 Caldecotte balancing lake ready.
1984
A421 road connects to M1 motorway at Junction 13;
Milton Keynes General Hospital opens (renamed Milton Keynes University Hospital in 2015).
1985 Britain's first multiplex cinema, The Point, opens.
1986
Energy World;
new county court;
Forte Crest Hotel (now Holiday Inn);
Gyosei International School UK opens (closes 2002).
1987 Woughton Marina opens.
1989
Furzton balancing lake,
Bradwell aqueduct (first aqueduct on Grand Union in over 100 years).
Milton Keynes Coachway opens. It was the first of the UK's Coachway interchanges.
1990s

1991
1991 Census: Population of the Borough of Milton Keynes = 176,304; population of designated area = 144,700. 
Church of Christ the Cornerstone was completed;
De Montfort University opens Milton Keynes campus. (Closes 2003).
1992
Milton Keynes Development Corporation wound up, replaced by Commission for New Towns;
Kingston District Centre;
HMP Woodhill.
1994 Westcroft district centre opens.
1996 National Hockey Stadium opens.
1997 District of Milton Keynes becomes the "Borough of Milton Keynes", a unitary authority.
1999 Milton Keynes Theatre, Art Gallery and new Visitor Centre open.
2000s

2000 Xscape opens.
2001
2001 Census: Population of Borough of Milton Keynes = 207,037; population of Milton Keynes urban area = 184,506.  (Includes Newport Pagnell)
2002 First UK LEGO Store opened.
2003 Wimbledon F.C. moves to the former England National Hockey Stadium
2004 ('MMIV') Wimbledon F.C. renamed and relaunched as Milton Keynes Dons F.C.
2007 Stadium MK opens and Milton Keynes Dons move in.
2007 The Hub & Vizion developments are completed at the western end of CMK
2008 University Centre Milton Keynes opens. (Becomes a campus of the University of Bedfordshire after 2012).
2010s

2010
Former National Hockey Stadium is demolished, construction begins on Network Rail National Centre, Quadrant:MK.
Milton Keynes Shopping Centre is grade II listed.
IF: Milton Keynes International Festival is launched.
2011
2011 Census: Population of Borough of Milton Keynes = 248,821; population of Milton Keynes urban area = 229,941. (Includes Newport Pagnell and Woburn Sands. Data for the original designated area is no longer collected).
2012 Network Rail National Centre (Quadrant:MK) officially opens
2015 Three of the 2015 Rugby World Cup matches were played at Stadium MK.
2017 series of events and exhibitions to celebrate 50 years since the original designation.
2018
Milton Keynes becomes the first 'city' in the UK scheduled to have ubiquitous fibre to the home.
The world's first urban delivery service by robot.
2019
The gallery is substantially extended and remodelled and includes an art-house cinema.
International prize winning design for MK:U (a planned undergraduate University of Technology) is announced, for a site near the central railway station.
Milton Keynes is designated as the European City of Sport for 2020.
2020s

2020
A421 (Kingston to M1 J13) upgraded to dual carriageway.
Work begins on East West Rail (Oxford–Cambridge). Work began on Bletchley Flyover rebuild.
Campbell Park is grade II listed in the 'Park and Garden' category.
2021
2021 Census: Population of Borough of Milton Keynes = 287,000; population of Milton Keynes urban area = 256,385.
2022
Hotel la Tour opens in Central Milton Keynes; overlooking Campbell Park and, at 50 metres (160 ft), it is the tallest building in the city.
Borough of Milton Keynes formally awarded city status by Letters Patent on 15 August 2022 and becomes the City of Milton Keynes.
 𝕁𝕄𝔽 (talk) 16:27, 4 June 2025 (UTC)