Buckinghamshire council area

Selling Land in Milton Keynes

Milton Keynes built more homes than the government asked of it in the latest test, a result of 142%, and the plan that will replace Plan:MK is now in front of two inspectors. The MK City Plan 2050 provides for 59,779 homes, mostly in the city centre and in new extensions on the city's edges, and leaves the villages largely to their own neighbourhood plans.

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A 1967 New Town, a City Since 2022

Milton Keynes City Council covers the city itself, from Wolverton and Stony Stratford in the north west to Bletchley and Fenny Stratford in the south, along with Newport Pagnell, Woburn Sands and the market town of Olney, and a rural area of villages such as Hanslope, Sherington, Emberton and Lavendon. The new town was designated in 1967. The district covers about 309 square kilometres and had around 305,900 residents in 2024. The council has been unitary since April 1997, and the borough was granted city status on 15 August 2022.

Building ahead of target. The city completed 7,484 homes against a requirement of 5,266 in the Housing Delivery Test 2025, a result of 142%.
A plan past its fifth birthday. Plan:MK was adopted in March 2019. At 7 years old, its own housing figure no longer sets the yardstick for supply.
A replacement under examination. The MK City Plan 2050 was submitted for examination in April 2026, and the hearing sessions opened on 15 September 2026.
Almost nothing expected from rural sites. The council's latest site-by-site supply counts just 28 homes from non-strategic rural sites over the plan period.

Milton Keynes in Figures

The government's latest figures for the council, its latest five-year housing land supply, and where its local plan stands.

Housing Delivery Test 2025
142%
Meeting its housing requirement.
Five-year housing land supply
5.47 years
Five years or more of deliverable housing land. Position at 1 April 2024, measured against local housing need by the standard method as proposed in 2024, 1,759 homes a year, plus a 5% buffer (5.85 years against the then standard method figure of 1,728 with no buffer). Stated by Milton Keynes City Council.
Checked source
Homes built against homes needed
7,484
of 5,266 needed, April 2022 to March 2025
Most recent strategic plan adopted
March 2019
More than five years old, so its housing figures are usually replaced by the government's standard method.
New plan progress
Updated
MK City Plan 2050 at examination: hearings held 15 September to 8 October 2026
Checked source

Sources: Housing Delivery Test: 2025 measurement, MHCLG, published 17 August 2026; Local plans: monitoring progress, Planning Inspectorate, August 2026. Local plans move quickly, so always check the council's own website for the latest position.

Over Five Years of Land, Measured on Need Since 2024

At 142%, none of the delivery test's consequences reaches Milton Keynes: no action plan, no 20% buffer, no automatic finding of unmet need under S5, the August 2026 framework's policy for land beyond settlement limits. Nor is supply short of five years, the other evidence of unmet need that national policy weighs under S5 for land well related to a settlement.

The council's assessment of five-year housing land supply for 2024/25 to 2028/29, dated October 2024 with a base date of 1 April 2024, counted 10,101 deliverable homes, 9,626 of them on 100 major sites. Plan:MK was already over five years old, so the assessment measured supply against local housing need on the standard method, not the plan's figure, and ran three tests while national policy was changing:

Source: Milton Keynes City Council, Assessment of Five-Year Housing Land Supply 2024/25 to 2028/29 (October 2024).
Test in the assessment	Homes a year	Requirement	Result
Five years, standard method in the 2023 framework	1,728	8,640, no shortfall, no buffer	5.85 years
Four years, which the 2023 framework allowed while the new plan was prepared	1,728	6,912 (8,067 homes counted)	4.67 years
Five years, method proposed in 2024, with a 5% buffer	1,759	9,235	5.47 years

There was no shortfall to add: the city had built 1,563 homes more than Plan:MK required since 2016. Even the finalised standard method figure of 1,799 a year, used in the City Plan 2050, would need only 9,445 homes with a 5% buffer, fewer than the 10,101 counted.

The council's five-year housing land supply page, updated on 25 September 2026, still names this assessment as the latest, though it describes the yardstick as the Plan:MK requirement; the assessment itself starts from local housing need. Building has kept pace: the council told the inspectors in June 2026 of 9,564 homes in the four years to March 2026, against 7,196 at 1,799 a year. That table gives 3,090 for 2022/23, where the assessment recorded 2,895 net; on either count the city is well ahead.

For most open land, then, the route is the plan rather than a shortage: the City Plan 2050 at examination, the neighbourhood plans it leaves village growth to, and policy S4 inside settlements. That is a reason to start early, because a plan-led route rewards evidence that is ready before the inspectors report or a village reviews its plan, and we pay for that work.

The MK City Plan 2050: 59,779 Homes on a Need of 50,372

The draft plan runs from 2022 to 2050. The standard method gives a need of at least 50,372 homes over those 28 years, or 1,799 a year, and the plan deliberately provides for 59,779. The council describes the 19% buffer as giving "considerable flexibility to ensure our full local housing need is met by 2050". Its settlement strategy places most growth in the city, while development within the boundaries of Olney and the villages "should focus on meeting local needs".

Homes from the MK City Plan 2050, Regulation 19 version (November 2025); hearing dates from the inspectors' programme. Figures may change at examination.
Allocation	Homes planned by 2050	Hearing day
Central Milton Keynes and Campbell Park	16,000	6 October
Eastern Strategic City Extension	7,750	29 September
East of Wavendon	2,250	30 September
South of Bow Brickhill	1,300	30 September
Levante Gate	1,250	30 September
Central Bletchley	1,184	1 October
Shenley Dens	1,000	1 October
Walton Campus	450	29 September
Wolverton Railway Works	400	29 September

Two carry conditions. The 7,750 homes east of the city are the first part of around 16,000 that the extension could hold in total, and East of Wavendon is timed for 2038 to 2050, once growth to the south and south east is substantially complete.

Where the Homes Come From

The inspectors' initial questions noted that figures in the council's growth strategy topic paper did not match those in policy GS2, and the council's response set the supply out again from a base date of 1 April 2026. It counts 15,931 homes in the city centre area, 13,232 on strategic sites carried over from earlier plans, 13,550 on the new City Plan allocations, 1,923 on smaller urban sites, 2,700 from windfall and 28 on smaller rural sites. That last figure says a great deal about the villages.

The inspectors also asked what evidence shows that sites allocated in earlier plans, but without permission, will still come forward as part of the 2,224 homes expected from non-strategic sites, and whether the Milton Keynes Tariff would apply to every allocation. Contributions of that kind come off land value, and our section 106 and CIL guide explains how.

Three Blocks of Hearings, 15 September to 8 October

The plan reached the Planning Inspectorate on 22 April 2026, and two inspectors were appointed on 27 April. Their hearings programme, in its fourth version of 24 September, sets the sessions in three blocks at Margaret Powell House in Central Milton Keynes:

15 to 17 September 2026. Procedure, housing need and mix, Gypsy and Traveller needs, employment and retail, and the spatial strategy.
29 September to 1 October. The site allocations, from Wolverton Railway Works and the Eastern Strategic City Extension to East of Wavendon and its buffers, Shenley Dens and Central Bletchley.
6 to 8 October. Central Milton Keynes, housing policies and the GS6 settlement boundaries on 6 October, then the policies on employment, places, climate and heritage.

The inspectors' matters, issues and questions show where the argument lies. They ask whether the 9,407 homes above the standard method figure are justified as a buffer, whether any other council has asked Milton Keynes to take its unmet need, whether the strategy for the rural area is clear and justified, and whether the GS6 settlement boundaries rest on proportionate evidence.

For land outside the draft allocations, those last two questions count most: a tight village boundary, in a plan expecting almost nothing from rural sites, is exactly what an inspector can test.

Villages, Open Countryside and the Neighbourhood Plans

Outside the city the draft plan is clear: in rural locations it "does not allocate standalone sites or extensions to rural settlements". Growth there is left to neighbourhood plans, and where a group prepares or reviews one, the draft expects it "to plan for a minimum of one dwelling". Beyond the settlement boundaries lies Open Countryside, where even a rural worker's home needs at least three years of financial records behind it.

Inside a settlement boundary, a plot or garden falls under S4 of national policy, where permission is the default and only substantial harm, outweighing the benefits, justifies saying no.
On a village edge, the neighbourhood plan, or its next review, is usually the way in, and a village that wants more than the minimum can choose it.
On the city edge, land that helps a strategic extension work, through access, drainage or open space, has a case.

How land gets into a local or neighbourhood plan is covered in our call for sites and local plans guide, and our page on paddocks and small sites shows the village plots we look at.

The Land We Look for in Milton Keynes

Land next to or within one of the draft strategic extensions, including East of Wavendon, South of Bow Brickhill and Shenley Dens.
Gardens, yards and backland inside the city, Newport Pagnell, Olney or Woburn Sands, where policy S4 applies.
Previously developed land around Central Bletchley and Wolverton, where the draft plan concentrates renewal.
Fields on the edge of a village whose neighbourhood plan is due for review.
Larger holdings to the north and east of the city, where the new town proposals point.

Many sites here need patience, and our agreements allow for it. We pay for the evidence, the representations to the council and any application, with your price written into the option on signing and set higher than the land's present worth. Farming or other use carries on until completion, and if permission is refused the land is still yours with nothing to repay. See how it works for the stages.

After 8 October: The Inspectors' Verdict and a New Town Decision

The Inspectors' Report

After the last session in the programme, on 8 October, the inspectors will decide whether the plan can be found sound, with or without changes, which the council would put out for comment. The council's Local Development Scheme gives no dates for the report or adoption, because they "fall outside the control of the Council". Because the inspectors have asked what the five-year requirement would be after adoption, an adopted plan would reset the supply question too.

A Renewed Town of 40,000 Homes

The government's New Towns draft programme, consulted on from 23 March to 19 May 2026, names Milton Keynes as a "Renewed Town" of around 40,000 new homes, reinvigorating the city centre and expanding to the north and east. It says delivery should be possible at Milton Keynes East, with building in the centre and the north contingent on the right local transport solution. The housing minister has since said the final locations will be confirmed before the end of 2026, and until then all seven remain proposals.

The Next Delivery Test

A new edition follows the Housing Delivery Test 2025 of 17 August 2026. Only a result below 95% would bring any consequence, starting with an action plan.

What This Means for Timing

Land in or beside a draft allocation: the inspectors' report and any changes that follow are the moment to be ready.
Land inside a town or village: S4 applies now, and nothing needs to wait.
Land to the north and east of the city: the new town decision could reshape its prospects, so preparing evidence now is sensible.

Questions About Land in Milton Keynes

Milton Keynes builds more than its target. Is there any point asking about my land?

Yes. Plots inside settlements, previously developed land and sites linked to the strategic extensions all have routes that do not depend on a shortage, and we tell you which fits.

My field is outside a village boundary near Olney. What decides its future?

Mainly the neighbourhood plan. The draft City Plan leaves rural growth to neighbourhood plans and treats land beyond the boundaries as Open Countryside, so a review of the local plan is the usual way in.

Could the new town proposal change things for land north of the city?

It could. The government names Milton Keynes as a Renewed Town of around 40,000 homes, expanding north and east, with a decision promised before the end of 2026. Until then it is a proposal only.

The inspectors are examining village settlement boundaries. Could my village boundary move?

It is possible. The programme gives policy GS6 a session on 6 October, and the inspectors have asked whether its boundaries are justified and based on proportionate evidence, and any change would come through modifications to the plan after the hearings.

My land is near Bow Brickhill. What does landscape-led mean for it?

The draft plan requires growth south of Bow Brickhill to be shaped by landscape surveys that respond to the setting of the Brickhills Special Landscape Area. Land nearby is likely to be judged the same way, so landscape evidence comes first in our work there, at our cost.

Tell Us About Your Land in Milton Keynes

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Sources

Figures on this page come from the Housing Delivery Test 2025 (published 17 August 2026) and the Planning Inspectorate's local plan monitoring to August 2026, with newer plan milestones checked on 24 September 2026. We update the page when new results or plan milestones are published. Planning positions change quickly, so always check the council's own website before relying on it.