Moving the Milton Keynes threads

[CharlieP]

Now that we have a "Home Counties and South West England" forum, can we move all Milton Keynes discussion (e.g. http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=989133) there?

The two most compelling reasons for doing so are:

1. Buckinghamshire is in the Home Counties.

2. Milton Keynes is not in the East Midlands.

[OperateOnMe]

where is it?

also which is closer to London: Oxford, Reading, MK (aka poor man's Wimbledon) or Colchester

[Aaronj09]

Reading.. that's pretty obvious.

[london-b]

Yes, MK isn't in the East Midlands.

[link_road_17/7]

Milton Keynes technically isn't in Buckinghamshire anymore!

Reading may be closer to London, but isn't MK quicker to get to from the smoke? 32mins vs. 30mins, IIRC.

Originally I wasn't happy about MK being in the East Midlands Forum, but it has 'grown' on me. Before electricity deregulation we were supplied by East Midlands Electricity, although gas was provided by British Gas South Eastern, and water piped from Anglian Water.

The problem is where it does relate to!

Prescott had us lumped into a MKSM (Milton Keynes South Midlands) growth region which encompassed Corby, Northampton, MK, Leighton Buzzard, Aylesbury, Luton and Dunstable.

We are the centrepoint (with Bedford) of the Oxford to Cambridge Arc (roughly the A421/A428 or East-West Rail Link corridor).

MK relates strongly to London and the South East.

I think the Home Counties should go in with the London forum, perhaps titled 'London & the South East' and the South West forum sit by itself.

[Aaronj09]

Milton Keynes is a unitary authority area with an independent borough council, but it is still part of Buckinghamshire for ceremonial reasons, just like Reading is part of Berkshire, even though Berkshire County Council no longer exists (similar situations can be found across the country, such as Southend with Essex, Medway with Kent and Portsmouth with Hampshire).

Officially it's in the Government Office Region of South East England (they no longer exist for any reason other than to collect statistics). I always think of it as being an affluent southern town, especially since a lot of workers commute to London.

[CharlieP]

Precisely. Instead of the unwieldy "Home Counties and South East England" forum, I propose we have a "South East England" and "South West England" forum, following the boundaries of the official regions. Existing Milton Keynes and Portsmouth threads, plus anything concerning Surrey, Kent etc. go in South East England, while Bristol and the West Country go in South West England. Everybody's a winner.

[MK Tom]

MK has always been split between regions. We come under East Anglia for news and water, East Midlands for electricity (and some channels news too), South East for a few official things and South Midlands for planning. As Link Road has already alluded to MK is the centre of the South Midlands region for planning purposes and separating us from Northampton and Corby, to which we are closely connected for planning matters, wouldn't be a good idea for that reason. The only town with a thread in the MKSM area not in the EM forum is Aylesbury, the thread for which runs to a whapping three pages.

Also the tagline of the East Midlands forum does specifically mention MK. Again I raise a desire to keep MK grouped together with its close neighbour Northampton(shire) rather than lumping it with places in Kent that in planning terms we really have nothing to do with. This site is about planning, not politics. It makes sense to group places according to that.