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Today, Cllr Lee Barney (above in green) attended an advisory panel meeting to consider an application by Dawoodi Bohra MK (DBMK) to the Milton Keynes Community Foundation (MKCF) (Click here for more info). Lee was invited by MKCF along with other Civic representatives to consider the application assessed against the following criteria:
- Will this development meet a real need in our community?
- What beneficiaries are targeted?
- What are the potential positive long-term impacts of this development?
- Does this proposal duplicate services or facilities available already in MK?
- Is this a suitable site for this development, given the targeted beneficiaries and the surrounding environment?
The following is an extract of Lee's notes. Please do get in touch with This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for more information.
To see a map of the proposed location, click here
Attendees:
Phil Stainsby- Hornebeam (Property management for MKCF)
Bart Gamber - MKCF (Grants Director)
Sue Muhereza - MKCF (Grants Officer)
Laura Keen - MKCF (Finance Director)
Lee Barney Milton Keynes Councillor
Alice Bramall - Milton Keynes Councillor
Mario Toto- Walton Community Councillor
Introduction by Grants Director:
Bart pointed out that these are not publicly owned properties (Land) as the name implies but that this is owned by MKCF as gifted to them by the Development corporation. This land is theirs and they are charged with distributing it under a set of criteria.
The MKCF land is there to allow for the changing demographic of Milton Keynes.
The board of the MKCF make the final decision - The advisory panel will take a vote which will be considered when the final decision is made. The vote will be made on paper at the end of the meeting with any supporting comments attached.
MKCF will eventually sell a 125 year leasehold on the land but that they could reclaim the land if for example it becomes a commercial entity or if an applicant stopped using the building as intended.
The advisory panel is not to discuss any issues that might be relevant at the planning stage which is a Council process and will happen if the land is sold to DBMK and they submit a full planning application.
Bart advised that in the 20years that the land had been in MKCF possession that no other group had requested it.
The discussion
I submitted a petition showing many signatures against building on the land and one signature in favour. I also explained that my public meeting in October where ~200 people attended was representative of >10% of the invitee list and that nearly all were against the use of this land for anything other than green space.
Bart Clarified that when we consider the application that we should assess the "Will this development meet a real need in our community?" that we should consider community to mean at least:
- Wider Milton Keynes Community (>220,000 people)
- DBMK Community (15 Families)
- Local Community (~1500 people)
We were asked, if this will meet the needs of the wider Milton Keynes - My response was that No, there are only 15 Families who will use this in Milton Keynes. The only way that this would be viable would be if people from outside Milton Keynes would use this. Thus an influx from Outside MK and would not meet the criteria of MKCF which is to benefit MK as a whole not the UK. This does not meet the needs of the wider Milton Keynes Community.
We were asked if this will meet the needs of DBMK - My response was that No, DBMK have 15 families in their community - This building and site is too large for just 15 families, this would be a poor investment for them, unless they intended to attract people from outside MK to use this facility. There is no significant need for this facility from DBMK's needs. Further that DBMK had only grown to 15 families since MK was built in the 70's there is no significant pressure from this, and it is unlikely that they would continue to grow significantly given their current rate of growth.
We were asked who the beneficiaries were - My response was that this is a very small sub group of Islam - DBMK have not grown enough since MK's conception there are still only 15 families. This would not benefit MK as a whole, nor would it benefit the local population.
We were asked what the potential long term positive impacts could be - My answer was that there are about 700 new homes being built very close by. This would provide accommodation for the DBMK group to grow into and to provide space for other DBMK families to migrate too from elsewhere in the UK. This would benefit the DBMK community but but not the local community or wider community of Milton Keynes who need these houses Further that this would be a significant change from the current population (based on the current census data {2011}).
We were asked - Does this duplicate existing facilities? - My Answer was that yes it does - they are already using the Quaker facility which allows for both religious and community needs. They could continue to use this facility if they chose.
We were asked if this site was beneficial for the target area considering the beneficiaries and the surrounding area. My response repeated many of my previous statements and my conclusion was that the local population of Wavendon Gate and Old Farm Park do not want this site developed for anything. This would only benefit DBMK and that this may indeed be a stretch too far for them given the low numbers of people needing this facility, thus it is likely that even DBMK wouldn't benefit from this facility.
We then voted - Given the criteria set out for making the decision by the Community Foundation I found that I had to object. This was not only a reflection of the general populations wishes but also to protect DBMK from investing in a site that was too large for their needs. I concluded that if this was an application by a small business seeking to go to larger premises that I would advise them no, unless they could prove that they were at bursting point. I found no evidence to support DBMK being in need of such a large plot of land unless they were considering inviting people from outside of MK in which case that this wasn't an appropriate use of this land given that this land should benefit the Milton Keynes Community as a whole and not just DBMK.
The next MKCF board meeting will be the 11th of April at which time the MKCF board will make their final decision, soon after, members of the advisory panel will be informed of their final decision.
As the meeting was closed, MKCF asked how they could better reach out to the local community. I explained that they could put a newspaper wrap around the local papers letting people know about their organisation. I also pointed out that their website wasn't the simplest to navigate and that finding out more information about the land that they owned was difficult. It was also mentioned that they needed more signs up in the areas that they own.
