11 vivid images capturing the birth of Milton Keynes

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By 1973, Milton Keynes had been designated as a new town, and its construction had started. From farmland clearance to buildings of the future, a cityscape emerged.

1. Burning off the old crops in preparation for house building.

2 Inside an Advance Factory Unit (AFU), the workplace of the future.

3. The factory’s place within the wider cityscape.

4. The grid of roads on the strategic map, with the city centre in red. It’s presented by Fred Roche, general manager of Milton Keynes Development Corporation.

5. A model of the proposed new town. “Essentially it’s about people and not about planners or architects or economists or accountants,” emphasises Roche. It’s said he knew how to handle politicians, submitting planning schemes to Whitehall on Christmas Eve and refusing to leave until final approval was given.

6. Aerial shot of works beginning.

7. Stony Stratford, listed as a town since the year of the Magna Carta in 1215, and planned to be a constituent town of the embryonic Milton Keynes.

8. Construction is swift, with five houses completed every day.

9. The first new area of the city to be completed is Galley Hill.

10. A view of the industrial park that hopes to attract science and research companies. Planners did not want the city tied to a single industry.

11. The city takes shape.

In the film, Fred Roche’s contributions show a man with ambitions for the place and people he represented.

He died in 1992. Twenty years on, Fred Roche Gardens, situated behind Christ the Cornerstone Church, were unveiled.

The film and stills on this page are taken from , a digital archive of UK places that mean the world to you. 10,000 film and TV titles from 1895 to now will be digitised and can be watched for free on BFI Player.

Britain on Film is funded by the National Lottery funding and the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation.