Milton Keynes
Milton Keynes is the only city and the largest settlement in Buckinghamshire, England, about 50 miles north-west of London. At the 2011 Census, the population of its urban area was almost 230,000. The River Great Ouse forms its northern boundary; a tributary, the River Ouzel, meanders through its linear parks and balancing lakes. Approximately 25% of the urban area is parkland or woodland and includes two Sites of Special Scientific Interest. In the 1960s, the UK government decided that a further generation of new towns in the South East of England was needed to relieve housing congestion in London. This new town, Milton Keynes, was to be the biggest yet, with a target population of 250,000 and a 'designated area' of about 22,000 acres. At designation, its area incorporated the existing towns of Bletchley, Fenny Stratford, Wolverton and Stony Stratford, along with another fifteen villages and farmland in between.