Interview with Wayne Perdue: part 1

Wayne recalls his interview with Bill Berrett and John Rowlands for a transport planning post in 1972. Initially he worked on the traffic model, forecasting traffic flows at road intersections. He contrasts the Pooleyville plan, designed around public transport, with the MK Master Plan, which was ‘… an optimum layout … for the motor car’ and notes there was ‘a large question mark [at MKDC] about the deliverability of …public transport’. In his opinion, it should have been possible to achieve a reasonable provision for public transport, as well as provision for cars but he believes that transport was not a priority of early decision-making. He notes that the local authority for public transport was Bucks County Council; MKDC therefore provided a subsidy for public transport, submitting approvals for this spend to the Treasury.

In the late 1970s, Wayne was appointed to lead the Transport Unit, which gave him a better position to influence decisions. Central Milton Keynes (CMK) became an increasing part of his work, with a draft transport brief for the railway station, including a bus interchange in the square outside the front of the station. This never happened because of the architectural views about the Square. When bus services became the responsibility of commercial operators, the Winterhill depot was too expensive and coach operators were not prepared to go into Central Milton Keynes, so the bus station and depot were obsolete. They briefly discuss the early 1970s project Dial-a-bus. When Wayne led on transport, he proposed that all public transport in CMK should run right down the middle of Midsummer Boulevard, but says: ‘that message wasn’t accepted entirely …just at the eastern end of the boulevard’: he recalls being called to EMC for the decision and notes that Stuart Mosscrop supported his view. In 1987 Wayne’s Transport Unit was privatised: he was active in transferring their expertise at MKDC to both MK and Bucks Councils.