MK Council
Pete Marland
Leader of Milton Keynes Council
Whitehouse Health Centre, which opened in 2020
H
appy New Year! 2021 was a year of hardship for many, and no doubt that will continue into 2022. However, Milton Keynes remains in a strong position to recover from the pandemic, and this year Milton Keynes Council will work to ensure our home is the best that it can be. This will be achieved in a variety of ways: by providing even more financial support to businesses that need it, continuing to tackle child poverty and support our most vulnerable, while also investing in infrastructure and making Milton Keynes cleaner, greener, and safer. Tackling litter The Council is keen to tackle litter, as it has drastically increased since the first lockdown. We collect approximately 140 tonnes of litter each month, which is the equivalent of the Statue of Liberty in weight – now multiply that by 12, and that’s how much litter we collect in a year. Litter harms the environment and it is a blight on the community, so we are calling on people to quit littering as their New Year’s Resolution. The Council has also employed enforcement officers who can issue onthe-spot fines to those who drop rubbish, including coffee cups, food wrappers and can even fine dog walkers who don’t clean up after their pet. There really is no excuse for littering, so please make sure you Take Pride in MK.
The Agora centre in Wolverton will be demolished by summer and will make way for the Love Wolverton scheme
Good news for Wolverton The Council is continuing to invest in some of our older estates that require attention, such as Bletchley, Fenny Stratford and Wolverton. Wolverton’s £35m regeneration has leaped forward in recent months, as the Council has purchased the abandoned and unloved Agora Centre. The former shopping building will be demolished by the summer, making way for the award-winning Love Wolverton scheme. There will be new homes, spaces for independent businesses, car-free ‘little streets’, a pocket park, sustainable mobility hub and even an energy microgrid. The Council is also proposing a new town centre car park at St George’s Way, public realm improvements and a public toilet. I look forward to seeing this development take shape over the next couple of years.
Improved health services It is important we have the correct infrastructure in place to support our increasing population. That is why the Council invested £9.5m to build Whitehouse Health Centre, which opened in 2020, and why we will invest a further £1.3m to provide specialist healthcare services. The now-empty first and second floors of the centre will be fitted with facilities to provide endoscopy and renal services, and will save people having to travel outside of the city for help. We want Whitehouse Health Centre to become a major health hub for MK, and this is one of the steps we are taking to get there.
CONTACT DETAILS: Tel: 01908 252442 | Email: peter.marland@milton-keynes.gov.uk | Facebook: @mklabour ADDRESS: c/o Milton Keynes Council, Civic Offices, 1 Saxon Gate East, Milton Keynes MK9 3EJ For the latest local news visit www.mkpulse.co.uk | MK Pulse Magazine | February 2022
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