Some of the Koreans' new town schemes have gone awry, and academics in the fast-developing Asian country point to Milton Keynes as the ideal model.

The Korean Times reported dissatisfied residents of Ilsan New City (pop 300,000) who commute daily into the capital Seoul.

Little more than 10 years old, Ilsan is blighted by poor transportation, education and cultural resources.

Developers were criticised for not learning from places overseas like Milton Keynes which – said the newspaper – was highlighted for "its careful planning, economic, educational and cultural success.

"Many local autonomies have made efforts to benchmark the British
development into their new town/new city projects, but no actual results have been seen yet."

Lee Sang-dae, of the Gyeonggi Research Institute, faulted Korean
developers as too short-term in their approach.

"The primary reason Milton Keynes stands out is because of its
extended planning period of more than 30 years."

City authorities were "constantly" consulting residents on the way
forward. Korea has five new cities with two more in the pipeline.

Parish council chief John Hawthorn, campaigning against current proposals to install traffic lights on Watling Street, said
original planners of Milton Keynes had shown "vision" but that had sadly not been followed up by their successors.