Interview with Bill Berrett (part 1)

Bill Berrett initially talks of his work with Fred Pooley at Bucks County Council on developing a plan for a new city, which became known as ‘Pooleyville’, a plan based around a monorail. Bill recalls being called into Fred’s office in 1962 and being asked: ‘What would be the implications of building a new city for a quarter of a million people in North Bucks?’ He was asked to develop the idea, he recalls how the plan became part of the County’s Development Plan of 1964. However, the plan was rejected: Bill describes the reasons for this, and the Government decision to set up a Development Corporation for the new city. Bills says that, despite the rejection of Pooleyville: ‘It was the vision, courage and political ability of Fred Pooley which enabled Milton Keynes to come about’.

Bill was appointed to the MKDC Planning team in 1968 and he became Planning Director in 1974. He admired many aspects of the Master Plan, and says: ‘I wanted to achieve a place which ordinary people can lead fulfilling and satisfying lives in’. He talks of the inexperience of the small MKDC team at the start, praising the specialist Chief Officers who began to be appointed. He recalls initial planning ideas and the reasoning behind the choice of the ‘crescent plan’ from Simpson to Stantonbury. Bill explains that MK’s housing costs, if they matched the goals in the Master Plan, exceeded the Government’s cost yardstick: this led to a stalemate. However, Bill says that the appointment of Fred Roche as General Manager speeded up progress; new staff were appointed including Derek Walker as Chief Architect, who recruited a team of young architects. Bill recalls that Derek: ‘knew that his job was to …rescue Jock Campbell and get the housing underway’. Bill comments on the difference between the ideas of the northern team architects (Wayland Tunley and Nigel Lane) with the ‘neo-modernists’ appointed for the southern team.