Interview with Margaret Durbridge.
Margaret Durbridge moved to Milton Keynes in 1936; at that time the region’s main occupation was farming, apart from that there was the Wolverton Works. In 1967 she was elected a county councillor and was heavily involved with school education in North Bucks. She refers to the Seebohm Report and the appointment of a Chief Officer in Bucks. She also mentions Rosemary Rue who implemented the building of the local hospital.
Discussing the plans for development, she comments that the area chosen suffered from flooding and some considered it unsuitable for major future development. She talks of Bletchley’s enthusiasm for development and the building of the Lakes Estate. She refers to the ‘Interim Master Plan for Rural Bletchley, Newport Pagnell and Wolverton Urban’. In her opinion she was ‘manoeuvred’ onto the board for Milton Keynes Development Corporation, they needed someone local and female; she mentions other members of the board, particularly those who were forward-thinking. She describes the work of the Social Policy Committee, of which she later became chair, and the views of that committee. She refers to the ‘difficulties when incomers are coming from different areas with different expectations’ and discusses the concept of the ‘Activity Centre’.
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