Milton Keynes and South Midlands Growth Area
The growth area covers Milton Keynes Council, Aylesbury Vale District, Northampton County, Bedfordshire County and Luton Borough Council. It concentrates on five existing urban areas:
- Milton Keynes
- Luton/Dunstable/Houghton Regis
- Bedford
- Northampton
- Wellingborough/Kettering/Corby
The Inter-Regional Board is chaired by an ODPM Minister and was set up to support growth by encouraging integration between the plans of different organisations with an interest in the MKSM growth area. Inter-regional Board meetings are open to members of the public to attend as observers. At its February 2005 meeting, the Board agreed that there should be a facility to allow observers to ask questions. Individuals wishing to table a question should e-mail their question, along with contact details, to the Board secretariat at thigginson.gose@go-regions.gsi.gov.uk. Before tabling a question, individuals should ensure that they have read and understood the following operating principles:
In keeping with the Terms of Reference, questions should be principally strategic and/or cross-regional in nature. Locality-specific questions should be channelled at the local level through, for example, local delivery vehicles and local authorities.
- Questions must be tabled with the secretariat a minimum of two weeks before the meeting.
- Time allocated for answers to questions at the meeting will be limited and will not exceed 15 minutes in total.
- Similar questions, from a single or multiple source, may be treated as a single item for response at the discretion of the secretariat.
- Repeat questions, when there has been no substantive development in the interim, will not receive coverage at the meeting but will receive reply from the secretariat.
- Questions that, in the opinion of the secretariat, would be better addressed by alternative means may be forwarded elsewhere. However, a log will be kept and tabled to the Board for information.
Further information about the Board and minutes from previous meetings are available online.
The final MKSM Sub-Regional Strategy was published in March 2005. This strategy forms the framework for the new Local Development Documents in the MKSM area. The Local Development Documents will contain proposals on sites and locations and will be subject to public consultation at a local level.
