Borough of Milton Keynes

History

The district was created on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, by the merger of Bletchley Urban District, Newport Pagnell Urban District and Wolverton Urban District, Newport Pagnell Rural District and that part of Wing Rural District within the designated New Town area. The district council applied for and received borough status that year.

It was originally one of five non-metropolitan districts of Buckinghamshire, but on 1 April 1997, under a recommendation of the Local Government Commission for England it became a self-governing unitary authority, independent from Buckinghamshire County Council.

Local government

Arising from the local government elections of May 2016, Milton Keynes council is under no overall control; the Labour Party and Conservative Party both hold 22 seats each with the Liberal Democrats holding 13 seats. The UK Independence party lost their only seat on the council to date in the 2016 local elections. Continuing as of May 2015, the Borough is governed by a Labour minority administration The Conservative Party is currently the main opposition group.

Following the United Kingdom local elections, 2016 the political composition for the council is as follows.

The 2016 local election did not change the status of the Council from 'no overall control'. No political party has had an 'overall majority' on the council since 2006.

Economy

This is a table of trend of regional gross value added (GVA) of Milton Keynes at current basic prices published (pp. 240–253) by Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling (except GVA index).

^ 1 Components may not sum to totals due to rounding

^ 2 includes hunting and forestry

^ 3 includes energy and construction

^ 4 includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured

^ 5 UK average index base = 100

Education

Further education in the borough is provided by Milton Keynes College. For higher education, the Open University's headquarters are based in Milton Keynes – though, as this is a distance education institution, the only students resident on campus are approximately 200 full-time postgraduates. The University Campus Milton Keynes, part of the university of Bedfordshire, provides conventional undergraduate courses.

Demographics

The Council's estimate of the population of the Borough in 2012 was 252,400 By 2026, the population of the borough is projected to be 302,100.

In the 2011 census, 80% of the population described their ethnic origin as white (nationally 85.5%), 5.6% as South Asian (5.5%), 6.8% as black (3.4%), 3.3% as mixed race (2.2%), 3.6% as Chinese and other Asian (2.2%), and 0.6% as 'other ethnic group (1.0%).

In the same census, 52.8% of the Borough's population registered their religion as Christianity and 37.9% as not religious or none given, compared to 59.4% and 31.9% nationally. 4.8% of the population follow Islam (5% nationally) and a little over 2.8% are Hindu (1.5%), with no other religion above one percent.

The borough’s population age profile is slightly younger than England's average, with half of the borough’s population aged under 35 years old. Nationally, half of the population is aged less than 39. The 30- to 39-year-olds in Milton Keynes Borough formed as the largest 10-year age group of the population with 30- to 34-year-olds being the largest 5-year age group. The Borough has a larger proportion of the population in the younger age groups; 22.3% are aged under 16 compared with 18.9% in England. Meanwhile, just 11.1% of the Milton Keynes population are aged over 65 compared with 16.3% in England.

Levels of educational attainment in the Borough are slightly higher than the England average. 18% have no qualifications compared with 22.5% in England, while 28.2% have a degree or higher qualification compared with 27.4% in England.

Housing and home ownership

In 2011, Milton Keynes had the greatest proportion of shared ownership homes in England, 6.1%, compared with second-placed London Boroughs of Hounslow and Tower Hamlets with 2.4%. This form of home ownership has been a planning policy of the Borough of Milton Keynes soon after the settled acceptance of all major UK lenders on specified forms of this type of property ownership was agreed in the 2000s decade.

The borough has relatively high home ownership at 72.8% of dwellings with the remaining 16.2% of homes are privately rented and 11.0% are socially rented.

At the 2012, 16.2% of the population lived in flats (apartments), compared with the 22.1% average for England.

Milton Keynes (urban area)

The urban area accounts for about 33% of the Borough by area and 90% by population. This is a partial list of the districts of Milton Keynes itself. For a discussion of the usage of the term "city" in Milton Keynes, see History of Milton Keynes#1960s Plans for a new city in North Buckinghamshire, 1967 designation of Milton Keynes.

The Borough of Milton Keynes is fully parished. These are the parishes, and the districts they contain, that are now elements of Milton Keynes as a whole.

Rest of the borough

The rural area accounts for about 66% of the Borough by area and about 10% by population. Olney is a town. These are the extra-urban civil parishes: