Muyiwa Oki, the president of the Royal Institute of British Architects, is right to say that the new generation of new towns planned by the government should learn from the planning mistakes of the past (Labour’s ‘grey belt’ plans could result in isolated communities, warns leading architect, 2 August). But Milton Keynes is not the disaster that is implied. It actually has more access to green space per person than any other town or city in Britain.
This is the legacy of the original masterplan’s emphasis on landscape and the commitment of the original Milton Keynes Development Corporation to high-quality landscape design. There was even an in-house tree nursery, and millions of trees have been planted.
There are in fact many positive lessons from the postwar new towns. They were planned holistically and for the long term by public-sector development corporations, which took housing, economic development and social considerations into account. There was increasingly a role for the private sector, but it worked within a clearly defined framework in which the short-term needs of the market were not always king. This system was lost during the 1980s and 1990s.
However they are delivered, new towns must be informed by similarly considered planning. There must also be sufficient oversight to ensure that the plans are delivered and then maintained in the community’s interest.
Dr Alistair Fair
Edinburgh
• Muyiwa Oki says that planners must learn from the mistakes of their 20th-century predecessors, particularly in relation to thinking about mobility beyond the car. It is strange, then, that Milton Keynes is cited as an example of such failures.
This new city is not infamous for its lack of green space, as is suggested. In fact, it is built on a network of linear green spaces and parks that connect pedestrians and cyclists – ergo, non-car traffic – and provide access across the entire city. Since the Milton Keynes Development Corporation was wound up in 1992, the city’s green spaces – including parks, woodlands and landscaping – have been maintained by the Parks Trust. In the past 30 years, the green space operated by it has reached 6,000 acres in total.
And while your article claims Milton Keynes is “regularly … voted one of the UK’s worst places to live”, the Telegraph and the Sunday Times both voted the city as one of the best places to live just this year.
Ellie Brown
Milton Keynes
• Like George Clarke, I grew up in Washington (The new town I grew up in radically improved life for my family. Labour is right to champion them, 1 August). However, I never shared his enthusiasm for it. To me, it was a dull, samey place with identikit houses and a depressingly grey town centre. When I was young, my local cinema was demolished and replaced with a funeral parlour, which seemed to sum up the place.
Several years later, I’ve come to appreciate it more. Now that my parents have moved to rural County Durham, I miss the frequent transport links to Newcastle and Sunderland. I would support the establishment of future new towns – we are sadly in need of secure homes in tight-knit communities. I just hope that they are a little less grey.
Laura Steel
Ealing, London
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