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The lyrical economy of Milton Keynes

01.03.2006
Author: Simon Pustil'nik
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This city is built only a few decades ago. When deciding where the principles of logistics were used to it - it is located at an equal distance from London, Cambridge and Oxford. This is an excellent and relatively inexpensive alternative to London for the Russians, who are thinking about how to move to the UK, and the opening here of their own business or invest in UK property. You know, what kind of city is it?
So, let's get acquainted - Milton Keynes. This name is hardly known to many, which is not surprising, because this is one of the newest cities in England - it did not exist on the map for several decades. The name of the city was chosen after the name of one of the villages that were previously part of its borders, and only later it became associated with the poet John Milton, who wrote the famous poem "Paradise Lost", as well as with the economist John Keynes, who, by the way, was married to a Russian ballerina. It turns out such a combination of lyrical and economic principles…
Let's see what happened. There is little lyrical content. There is no smell of good old England here – the station already resembles rather some North American city... But from an economic point of view, it turned out quite well. Milton Keynes is located in accordance with the principles of logistics - at an equal distance from London, Cambridge and Oxford. London is only about 40 minutes away by car, and half an hour by high–speed train, and about 100 trains a day run between London Euston Station and Milton Keynes. Airports are also close, there are several of them at once - Luton, Heathrow, and Birmingham. It is worth noting that the city is located in the center of an extensive forested area with many lakes and canals.

Forty years of development
Milton Keynes was declared as a new city in the late 1960s, although some villages and towns that became part of it existed before. For example, Bletchley is a town famous for its famous X station, where secret German codes were deciphered during World War II. Now there is an interesting museum organized here, where you can see Colossus - the world's first computer powered by electronic lamps, which helped in deciphering the codes.
The emergence and initial development of Milton Keynes was dictated by the direct need to relieve overcrowded London – and it was a kind of "sleeping area" of the British capital. Then London companies began to move there, for which the new city was interesting for the relatively low cost of office space and a really very attractive location.
After three decades of rapid and successful economic growth, Milton Keynes has become a large city with a population of about 216,000 people and continues to develop, and faster than any other city in Britain. Moreover, not only the city is young, but also its inhabitants - about 46% of the population are under 30 years old.
Milton Keynes is comfortable to live in and was created with care for the environment. Perhaps, in some sense, it resembles Zelenograd. Here, the rhythm of a modern business city, with futuristic glass complexes in the center, is combined with great leisure opportunities and an almost rustic lifestyle. The urban road system is based on the North American interchange model, so that the entire Milton Keynes can be crossed by car in just 15-20 minutes, and half of the locals have a distance of less than 3 miles from home to work.

Logistics in everything
The city consists of several "squares", each of them has its own cozy village surrounded by a wooded area. In general, parks here are one of the main landscape elements, one can even say that the city itself is actually built into the park! All the big shops are located in the city center, and local centers such as a polyclinic, a school, a cultural and sports center, a pub (what an English village without a pub!) They are located again according to the principle of logistics - close to the intersection of the main pedestrian arteries and urban roads.
A safe system of footpaths was one of the main ideas in the design of the city. Their total length is about 200 km, which, you will agree, is not often found in the city of the XXI century. A well-designed network of pedestrian and bicycle roads allows you to drive the whole city from one edge of the city to the other, without ever intersecting with the flow of cars. A real paradise for walkers and cyclists! It is not surprising that a bicycle is a favorite means of transportation here, since even in winter the temperature outside rarely drops below zero. You can also meet horse riding enthusiasts – they also have a place to roam.
But the main thing is the economic success of the city. Due to its exceptionally convenient location and thoughtful layout, Milton Keynes turned out to be attractive for investment, a number of head offices of many large companies and banks, including such well-known ones as Daimler-Chrysler, Minolta, Xitec Software, moved here. The unemployment rate in the city is lower than in the UK as a whole, at just 1.8% of the number of employees. In the last three years alone, the number of jobs in the city has increased by 15,000. It is not surprising that an increasing number of Londoners are selling apartments in the crowded and expensive capital and buying houses with a plot in Milton Keynes, finding a job there or transferring their business there.
And a few more touches to the portrait of Milton Keynes. The city's shopping mall is one of the largest in England and Europe, with more than 30 million people shopping there every year. A few years ago, the huge Xscape Sports center opened with indoor ski slopes operating all year round. There are also fitness and wellness centers, an entertainment center, restaurants and a cinema with 16 halls, as well as numerous outlet stores. Milton Keynes has its own theater with 1,400 seats, an art gallery, and a well-developed network of schools, clinics, and hospitals. The Open University of Distance Learning, which is based in the city, is the largest university in England.

Milton Keynes looks to the future
Real estate in Milton Keynes is a profitable investment, as the cost of housing here is lower than in England as a whole, and the growth rate of real estate prices is one of the highest. Experts believe that this trend is long-term, since Milton Keynes is identified in the economic development plans as one of the four main growth areas of Southern England, along with London, Cambridge and the Thames Valley. The coming years are covered by the city development program, which received the motto "From a new city to an international city".
The choice of real estate is very diverse – in a good area, a separate two-bedroom house can be purchased for 130,000- 150,000 pounds ($225 000- 260 000 ), the cost of a three-bedroom house starts from 150,000 pounds, and a four-bedroom house starts from 210,000 ($370,000). There are houses for a very wealthy buyer – 0.5 million pounds ($850,000) and above.
A typical offer is a detached or semi-detached two-storey brick house with three or four bedrooms and a large plot. On the ground floor there is a hall, a living room with a fireplace, a dining room, a kitchen, a room with a washing machine, etc. On the second floor there are bedrooms, including the master bedroom with a spacious bathroom. There is also usually another shared bathroom on the second floor, and an additional bathroom on the ground floor. It is not uncommon to find the so–called conservatory, a glazed extension that gives the house additional space, since the size of the plots in Milton allows you to roam. If it doesn't exist, it doesn't matter – new residents will be able to choose their own style of conservatory and build it – this pleasure costs about 15,000 pounds.
In Milton, it is common to buy real estate for the purpose of renting. Due to the influx of new residents, the demand for rent is very high, and in good areas houses are rented literally within one or two days. Such operations provide a constant rental profit with a good increase in the cost of capital.

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