Milton Keynes City Council (MKCC) has agreed to undertake a Community Governance Review (CGR) of all 48 parishes in the city. Following informal consultation with all parishes, we have used their responses to develop our proposals for the following Parish and Town Council areas: 

1. Abbey Hill
2. Bletchley and Fenny Stratford
3. Central Milton Keynes
4. Great Linford
5. Shenley Brook End and Tattenhoe
6. Shenley Church End
7. Walton
8. Wavendon
9. Whitehouse
10. Woburn Sands 

The Terms of Reference set out how the review will be conducted and the matters on which the review is to focus. 

What is a Community Governance Review?     

A CGR is a way for Local Authorities to make sure that at parish level, governance arrangements are working as efficiently and effectively as they should be. This is achieved by asking the public, local councils and any interested parties whether they feel their communities are suitably represented and whether parishes would like to see any changes made to their current governance arrangements. 

A CGR is an opportunity to change parish names, warding patterns, the number of parish councillors and in certain circumstances, amend external parish boundaries, and create / merge / abolish parishes. 

A CGR can be a review of the whole, or part of the city. This review is for the whole city, however the Draft Recommendations to be consulted on will focus on the parish areas named above. Draft recommendations also reflects that community governance remain unchanged for all other parishes.  

While we are primarily seeking comments on our draft recommendations, we welcome comments on the remaining parishes where we have not proposed any changes.

Who will undertake the Community Governance Review? 

MKCC, as the principal council, is responsible for carrying out the review. The final recommendations from the review must be agreed by Full Council. Final proposals will be presented to Full Council for approval in October 2025. 

The timetable shows the key dates when the council will consider reports and make decisions relating to this review. If the review concludes that changes should be made, and these are approved by Full council, then MKCC will make and publish a reorganisation order to put the changes into effect. It will conclude in time to be reflected in new electoral registers to be published on 1 December 2025. 

Timetable  

A CGR must by statute be completed within a 12-month period from the day on which it commences. The CGR begins when the Council publishes its Terms of Reference and concludes when it publishes the recommendations made in the review.  

The below is an indicative timetable and is therefore subject to alteration: 

Consultation   

Before making any recommendations or publishing final proposals, the council will take full account of the views of the local people and will comply with the statutory consultative requirements. 

The Council has now published its initial draft recommendations which are available here. 

The CGR consultation runs for twelve weeks beginning Thursday 19 June 2025 and finishes on Thursday 11 September 2025. We are inviting members of the public, parish and town councils, ward and parish councillors and other interested stakeholders to respond to the consultation. You can do this quickly and easily by filling in our short online survey. 

An interactive map which allows users to compare current CGR/PDR geography and proposed changes can also be accessed here: MKCC Democracy Consultation Map.

You can also respond to the consultation using the contact details below: 

By email to: electoralreviews@milton-keynes.gov.uk  

By post to: 

Community Governance Reviews 

Electoral Services 

Milton Keynes City Council  

Civic, 1 Saxon Gate East 

Milton Keynes 

MK9 3EJ 

All consultation responses will be published at the end of the review.