Central Milton Keynes Business Neighbourhood Plan - Previous Stages

May 2015

At the referendum on the Neighbourhood Plan that took place on 7 May 2015, the turnout in the business referendum was 63.8% and 88% of the votes cast were in favour. The turnout in the residential referendum was 61% and 84% of the votes cast were in favour. The Declaration of the Results

Referendum information - February 2015

A Referendum relating to the adoption of the CMK Business Neighbourhood Plan will be held on 7 May 2015.

As this is a Business Neighbourhood Plan, there will be two referendums, one for residents and one for businesses. The referendum area for both the residential and the business referendums covers the whole of the borough of Milton Keynes.

The question which will be asked in the Referendum is: “Do you want Milton Keynes Council to use the neighbourhood plan for Central Milton Keynes to help it decide planning applications in the neighbourhood plan area? “

The referendum area is different from the area which has been designated as the CMK Business Neighbourhood Plan area.  Maps showing both the referendum area and the Business Neighbourhood Plan area are included in the Information Statement which can be viewed here: Information Statement. 

Residential Referendum

A person is entitled to vote in the Residential Referendum if, on 7 May 2015, 

  • he or she is entitled to vote in a local government election in the referendum area and
  • his or her qualifying address for the election is in the Referendum area. A person’s qualifying address is, in relation to a person registered in the register of electors, the address in respect of which he or she is entitled to be so registered. 

Business Referendum

A person is entitled to vote in the Business Referendum if he or she is registered on the business voting register on 7 May 2015. A person is entitled to be registered on the business voting register if, on the day of their application to be so registered, they are a non-domestic ratepayer in the referendum area. 

Where, in respect of a hereditament, more than one person is liable for a non-domestic rate as partners or trustees, the business vote holder is the partners or trustees jointly.

Referendum expenses

The Referendum expenses limit that will apply to the Referendum is £13,503.92.

The number of persons entitled to vote in the Referendum by reference to which that limit has been set is 181,934 for the residential referendum and 6,914 for the business referendum.

The Referendum will be conducted in accordance with procedures which are similar to those used at local government elections.

Specified documents

A number of "specified documents" have to be published, these provide information about the CMK Business Neighbourhood Plan and the Planning system in general. The specified documents can be viewed here:

A copy of the specified documents may also be viewed in person at the following deposit points:

November 2014 Update

At its meeting on the 13 October 2014 Cabinet, as a result of the Examiner’s report, resolved:

  • To approve the Examiner’s recommended modifications to the CMK Alliance Business Neighbourhood Plan and make the necessary changes to the plan; 
  • To publish the modified plan and progress to a business and residential referendum;
  • That the area for the two referendums be extended to include all land within the Milton Keynes Council area.

The full decision and resolutions can be viewed at: Cabinet, 13 October 2014, Item 11

The Council's Decision Statement can be viewed at: CMK Business Neighbourhood Plan Decision Statement. 

A map of the referendum area can be viewed at: CMK Business Neighbourhood Plan Referendum Area map. 

May 2014 Update - Examiner's Report 

Following a series of exchanges with the examiner, Mr Jeremy Edge, Milton Keynes Council is publishing his examiners report on the Central Milton Keynes Business Neighbourhood Plan.

The document can be viewed at: Central Milton Keynes Business Neighbourhood Plan Draft Final Examiners Report. 

November 2013 - Examination Hearing 

Mr Jeremy Edge has been appointed to carry out the examination of the CMK Business Neighbourhood Plan. As part of the examination a local hearing will be held on Thursday 12 December 2013.

The hearing will start at 10am and will take place in the Grafton Room at Midsummer House, Midsummer Boulevard, Central Milton Keynes.

The hearing is open to the public, but participation in the discussion is at the invitation of the Examiner only. Invited participants have been contacted individually.

The Examination will focus on Draft Policy CMKAP SS2 – the Shopping Area. The matters to be discussed at the Hearing can be seen here: Matters for CMK Business Neighbourhood Plan Examination Hearing 12 December 2013 

Publicity of the submitted CMK Business Neighbourhood Plan 

The Business Neighbourhood Plan was publicised from 24 July to 18 September 2013. The submitted documents can be seen here:

Prior to its finalisation, Milton Keynes Council screened the draft CMK Business Neighbourhood Plan to see whether a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) was required. The conclusion of the screening opinion was that an SEA was not required. A copy of the Screening Statement can be seen here: Screening Statement, June 2013 

Consultation on the pre-submission draft CMK Business Neighbourhood Plan 

A draft version of the Central Milton Keynes Business Neighbourhood Development Plan for Central Milton Keynes was published for public consultation for 8 weeks from 12 October to 7 December 2012. The draft plan can be viewed at:

The consultation draft of the plan was prepared by CMK Town Council through a Steering Group of 16 people following months of involvement by local residents and businesses through an online wiki, public workshops, expert panels and numerous stakeholder meetings.

Approval of CMK Business Neighbourhood Area - 25 July 2012

Following a cabinet decision on the 25 July 2012, the area put forward by Central Milton Keynes Town Council in their Neighbourhood Plan Area Application has now been approved as a Business Neighbourhood Plan Area.

To comply with regulation 7 of the Neighbourhood Planning (General) Regulations 2012, Milton Keynes Council is publicising the following details:

  • The name of the Neighbourhood Area: Central Milton Keynes Business Neighbourhood Area.
  • The name of the relevant body who applied for the designation: Central Milton Keynes Town Council
  • A map of the designated area can be viewed at CMK Neighbourhood Area Map 
  • The relevant Cabinet Report and decision note can be viewed at: Cabinet, 25 July 2012

In April 2012 CMK Town Council applied to Milton Keynes Council, in accordance with the Neighbourhood Planning (General) Regulations 2012, to designate a Central Milton Keynes Neighbourhood Plan Area.

CMK has the status of being a business neighbourhood area frontrunner. There are over 100 areas across the country which are piloting the new neighbourhood planning process, but only a handful of these are identified as business neighbourhood areas. Within a business neighbourhood area there is a requirement for an additional referendum of the business community to be held alongside the referendum of residents.

In the Neighbourhood Area application, CMK Town Council had asked that consideration be given to designating the area as a neighbourhood area and not as a business neighbourhood area.

The Localism Act, Schedule 9, Part 1, requires that whenever Milton Keynes Council considers an application to designate a Neighbourhood Area that it also considers whether the area should be designated as a business area. A key factor in this decision is whether the area concerned is wholly or predominantly business in nature.

The application and a statement explaining why and how CMK Town Council intends to prepare a Neighbourhood Plan, and how the organisation and area meet the conditions of Section 61G(2) and 61F(5) of the Town And Country Planning Act, 1990 can be viewed at:

In accordance with Regulation 6 of the Neighbourhood Planning (General) Regulations 2012 Milton Keynes Council consulted residents and other interested stakeholders on this application. The Consultation ran for a 6 week period from Tuesday 8 May to Tuesday 19 Jun 2012. A copy of the consultation statement can be viewed at the link below.

This was not a consultation on the Neighbourhood Plan itself, but merely the identification of the area for which the parish or town council wished to prepare a neighbourhood development plan.

Following the close of the 6 week consultation period, Milton Keynes Council considered all the comments received and prepared a report and recommendation to take to Cabinet on the 25 July 2012.