Milton Keynes awarded CITY STATUS as part of jubilee celebrations
It's one of 8 places to receive the prestigious status.
Milton Keynes is among a record number of locations to have won prestigious city status, as part of The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations.
The competition to receive civic honours was last run ten years ago to mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, and this year for the first time ever the competition for city status was open to applications from the Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories.
Milton Keynes was built after an Act of Parliament in 1967 approved the building of a new community of 250,000 people covering 8,850 hectares (21,869 acres) of Buckinghamshire farmland and villages.
It was designed to ease the housing shortages in overcrowded London.
Eight places won the royal honour this year ahead of the Jubilee weekend, the highest number of awards in a single competition:
• Bangor, Northern Ireland
• Colchester, England
• Doncaster, England
• Douglas, Isle of Man
• Dunfermline, Scotland
• Milton Keynes, England
• Stanley, Falkland Islands
• Wrexham, Wales
The Platinum Jubilee Civic Honours Competition required applicants to demonstrate how their unique communities and distinct local identity meant they deserved to be awarded city status. They were also required to highlight their royal associations and cultural heritage.
The competition for city status has taken place in each of the last three jubilee years, with previous winners including Chelmsford, Lisburn and Newport.
Winning city status can provide a boost to local communities and open up new opportunities for people who live there, as is the case with previous winners Perth and Preston where residents have described how their success contributed to increased national and global standing, putting them on the international map as a place to do business.
Research shows that Perth, which was granted city status in 2012 as part of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, has reaped the full benefits, with the local economy expanding by 12% in the decade it was granted city status.
Leader of Milton Keynes Council Peter Marland said:
"It's not just about what benefit it brings to Milton Keynes, it's what impact it bring to the region."
"That was part of our bid - Milton Keynes is not a small place anymore, we're nearly a population of 300,000 and we will continue to grow.
"It will bring huge economic benefits, but it will bring cultural benefits as well. It'll bring recognition for what is really quite an important area to the whole of the UK economy.
"We are intrinsically linked with the reign of Queen Elizabeth II and I think it's a really important link between why city status was being awarded this time and Milton Keynes."
Culture Secretary and Bedfordshire MP Nadine Dorries said:
"City Status is a huge accolade and I congratulate our eight brilliant winners. This competition showcases the best of Britain and the Overseas Territories and will act as a lasting legacy of Her Majesty The Queen's Platinum Jubilee."
Applications were opened last year and almost 40 locations from across the UK and beyond put forward their bid to become a city. The applications, which were asked to follow a clear structure were subsequently evaluated by a panel of experts and Cabinet Office ministers, before a recommendation was put to Her Majesty The Queen.
‘Letters Patent’ will now be prepared which will confer each of the awards formally and will be presented to winners later in the year.