Fury over plans to build new mini UK town with 3,500 homes and new schools
A proposed settlement is causing anger, as residents voice concerns over potential traffic chaos and safety risks.
Plans to build a huge new settlement on the edge of Milton Keynes have sparked growing anger, with residents warning that the development's proposed road layout would cause serious congestion and safety risks. Hallam Land Management is drawing up proposals for Keepers Place, a large mixed-use community of around 3,500 homes. The site lies south-east of Moulsoe, directly north of Broughton and the M1, and spans the boundaries of Milton Keynes City Council and Central Bedfordshire Council.
The site has been described by Hallam Land Management as "a proposed sustainable new community" that is "designed to support the goals of the Milton Keynes City Plan 2050," with up to 3,500 homes, offering a mix of market and affordable designed to meet growing local housing needs, supporting strategic infrastructure, community facilities, employment opportunities for local businesses and extensive public open space and landscaping. The proposal also includes building new primary schools and a secondary school.
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Although still at an early stage, the land forms a key part of the Eastern City Extension in the emerging Milton Keynes City Plan 2050, making planning refusal unlikely once a formal application is submitted. The site is located North of Broughton and the M1 over 231 hectares.
The strongest backlash centres on the developer’s intention to allow cars, vans and lorries from the new neighbourhood to use Broughton Grounds Lane as an access point.
Around 700 homes could be routed across the lane's narrow M1 bridge, linking directly into Brooklands and Broughton Gate.
Some residents and local Liberal Democrat councillors say this would pile traffic pressure onto routes that already struggle at busy times.
Councillors Sam Crooks and Nana Ama Ofori-Atta, together with Brooklands Lib Dem candidate Wing Tsang, have launched a petition calling on Hallam Land to abandon the access proposal.
Over 900 people have signed the petition so far.
The petition description reads: "We oppose the use of Broughton Grounds Lane by cars, vans and lorries to enter and leave the proposed Keepers Place development on the other side of the M1.
"This will have a detrimental effect on traffic flows in Brooklands. We call upon Hallam Land Management to provide an alternative solution."
Lib Dem councillor Sam Crooks told Milton Keynes Citizen: "Allowing heavy traffic to use Broughton Grounds Lane would turn it into a rat run and pile even more pressure on roads that are already busy at peak times.
"Brooklands residents deserve better than to see their streets used as cut-throughs for developments miles away."
