A LEADING light behind the birth of Buckinghamshire new town Milton Keynes almost 50 years ago is sharing his knowledge with today's town leaders, amid national debate about the creation of new 'garden cities'.

An Ilkley resident today, Bill Berrett, now 82, was called upon by forward-thinking county architect, Fred Pooley, to come up with an initial study in the 1960s looking at the potential for a new town in Buckinghamshire.

An architect and planner by trade, Mr Berrett not only produced an innovative study in just ten days, but later went on to become director of planning of Milton Keynes Development Corporation.

This week he travelled back to Milton Keynes to tell the mayor and council of the now flourishing town the story of how the community came about.

Milton Keynes will be 50 years old in 2017, and its local authority is preparing to celebrate.

"I was involved with the building the new city of Milton Keynes from the very beginning," said Mr Berrett.

"It was created as a way of protecting the London greenbelt from development by providing opportunities for these pressures to be contained."

The initial push for the new town was the result of overspill housing moving out of London, and pressure for new building, but also a desire to protect the greenbelt. The conclusion reached was the best solution was the creation of a new 'city'."

The site was deliberately located equidistant from London, Birmingham, Leicester, Oxford and Cambridge, and situated near to a main railway line. It was intended to be self-sustaining and eventually become a major regional centre in its own right.

Mr Berrett praised the vision of then country architect, Fred Pooley, who recognised many issues around housing, having grown up in the postwar East End of London.

"He was a a real gentleman and a very nice man," he said.

Mr Berrett left the corporation in 1975 to move on to working on the development of a new town in New Zealand.

He returned to the UK in 1981 and settled in Ilkley, lecturing at Leeds University for some years.