Milton Keynes is the perfect town to withstand a Covid pandemic, say experts

An article published today in the Financial Times sings the praises of MK and explains why it could stand out in the future as a Covid success story.

The article, which can be accessed here, states: "If you were planning a town to withstand a pandemic, it might look something like Milton Keynes, a past vision of the future coming into its own in the turmoil of the present."

It describes how MK’s "comparative resistance" to Covid-19 points to how past planning, as well as geography, will play a role in determining which places ride out the pandemic and rebound.

As far a social distancing is concerned, MK could not be better designed. And though Covid infections are rising, the rate is still just 67.5 cases per 100,000 of the population. Compared to the highest area, built-up Knowsley in Merseyside, which recorded 662 per 100,000, this is very low.

The FT article states: "(Milton Keynes') garden city design seems prescient in the age of social distancing. Weaving in and out of 26 parks are 160 miles of bicycle and pedestrian paths, all sustained, like the local charitable foundation, by land endowments gifted at the outset."

Andrew Carter, director of the Centre for Cities think-tank, told the FT journalist: “If you were thinking about laying out a place, given where we are at now, this would probably be it.

“It’s not only that it is not reliant on public transport, it has a road infrastructure that allows a lot of cars to move around at the same time without congestion...Because of the low-density nature of housing and office space, you don’t have thousands of workers all tightly crammed together."

Economically, businesses in MK have been hit by Covid, but the town is batter placed to survive and recover.

The man behind MK's famous delivery robots, Andrew Curtis, said: “Milton Keynes is facing similar problems to everywhere but it is unique in that it is happy to adapt to new things at the outset. It has always been futuristic,” he said.

With "vast, mile-long warehouses" and distribution centres, MK harbours "everything from the UK headquarters of multinationals and professional service companies to sole traders, fintech start-ups, tractor manufacturers and battalions of van drivers," states the FT.

The town is also is within a "golden triangle", distribution wise, from from which almost 90 per cent of Britain’s population can be reached within five hours.

Andrew Curtis, who runs the local branch of Starship, the company behind the famous MK delivery robots, told the FT. “Milton Keynes is facing similar problems to everywhere but it is unique in that it is happy to adapt to new things at the outset. It has always been futuristic,” he said.

The article describes how the town’s spacious layout lends itself readily to change, and the "diverse nature of the local economy provides opportunities for residents to change course".

MK Council leader Pete Marland is quoted saying: There is no intrinsic reason why places succeed" but stressed that any jobs created recently along the M1 corridor could soon be swept away by automation.

He said the key in Milton Keynes will be to create the skills locally to take advantage of the town’s position in “the arc of knowledge” between the university towns of Oxford and Cambridge.

“Jobs will always change...For every white-van man you lose, you have to gain two coders for the robots," he said.