High rise development plans for hundreds of new homes next to Campbell Park

Hundreds of homes and businesses could be built alongside the city's scenic Campbell Park.

And some of them could be more than 10 storeys high, the Citizen can reveal.

Milton Keynes Development Partnership (MKDP) is inviting proposals for 29 acres of greenfield land on the north side of the park.

The massive site would be flanked by the Grand Union canal on one side and Marlborough Gate on the other.

It already has a name – Northside.

Though the development would be primarily housing, MKDP bosses say they would consider “high quality” restaurants, office accommodation and a premium hotel.

Their brochure promoting the site states: “There are no restrictions on the storey height and there is the possibility of exceeding 10 storeys to create a feature gateway to Central Milton Keynes from the canal end of the site.”

There is no fixed development brief for the site and would-be developers are asked to tender with their ideas.

The brochures states MKDP expects the development to be innovative and pioneering.

It adds: “Architectural excellence, innovation, solid environmental sustainability and high quality build are a prerequisite to delivering a quality development to meet the balance between social and economic objectives.”

The high-rise plan comes weeks after MKDP selected Sterling Properties to build “CMK’s tallest building” - a multi-storey block to replace the existing YMCA.

The original design guidance for MK declared that “no building be taller than the tallest tree” and for decades planner stuck to this rule.

But MKDP,in its expansion plans for the city, believed that Central Milton Keynes needed “landmark buildings”.

The height restriction was lifted and high rise flats, hotels and offices have now been built in the central area. The Northside plan could see MK’s tallest-ever new build scheme.

MK Development Partnership is an independent legal entity wholly owned by MK council. Its purpose is to ensure continued growth and economic success through development of land and assets.

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