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Introduction

In early 2023, planners at Milton Keynes City Council had just completed a Call for Sites consultation and proactive internal effort to identify potential development areas. With over 700 sites to assess, the work required months of manual analysis across the planning team. “We didn’t think we needed a platform” admits James Williamson (Monitoring and Implementation Team Leader) , “but we were beginning to worry about how we were going to get through the whole site assessment process.” That’s when James and his team discovered PlaceMaker. They quickly recognised how the software could drastically reduce the time required for assessments.

Challenges

Milton Keynes, the biggest ‘new town’ of its generation, was designed in 1967 with an original target population of 250,000. Now, it’s on track to exceed 400,000 residents by 2050. Planning for this rapid growth, Milton Keynes Council is developing an ambitious vision for the next 25 years through its new local plan, MK City Plan 2050. Technology, including PlaceMaker, plays a critical role in preparing for and delivering this growth, from scenario testing to anticipating changing needs from local communities and consulting with the public.

Solutions

PlaceMaker’s engagement module was key in producing the council’s LAA; from assessments to publishing interactive reports. The council’s full LAA report and Regulation 18 consultation are hosted within PlaceMaker, engaging the public with dynamic tables, interactive maps and embedded consultation questions to tell the story of MK City Plan 2050.

Facilitating collaboration, PlaceMaker enabled colleagues from ecology, highways, and conservation to contribute to the Land Availability Assessment (LAA) via the platform. Urban Design colleagues also use the platform to look at specific site details as the unlimited seats within a PlaceMaker license encourages collaboration across departments, creating a single version of the truth.

Scenario testing capabilities have unlocked new possibilities for Milton Keynes. “It helps us think outside the box” James says. From exploring increased densities to planning rapid transit routes and analysing open space, the team can model future scenarios with confidence, backing innovative ideas with robust data.

Results

Since adopting PlaceMaker, the council has significantly accelerated its local plan process. “The software has easily halved the time for site assessments” James confirms. This efficiency allowed just two officers to oversee assessments, freeing others to remain focussed on their specialist areas, ensuring that the team stayed on track to meet their consultation timelines.

PlaceMaker also enhanced consistency across the team. “We can say every site has been assessed against identical criteria – that’s really positive for us” James explains. This uniformity strengthens the quality and transparency of their decision-making, a key benefit for the team.

PlaceMaker’s engagement tools have enhanced online and in-person consultation events with interactive reports and map layers to demonstrate decision-making. Visualising data to engage the public is just one of the ways in which the council are using PlaceMaker to increase transparency and public buy-in to the city’s ambitious plans for the future.

The ability to test out a new or innovative idea and build an evidence case with PlaceMaker’s scenario testing really helps enable my team to think outside the box.

James Williamson
Monitoring & Implementation Team Leader, Milton Keynes City Council

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