Interview with Ben Affleck, Chief Housing Officer

In 1970, Ben Affleck, looking for the next step in his housing management career, applied to be Chief Housing Officer for Milton Keynes Development Corporation (MKDC), and was interviewed by Horace Cutler and Jock Campbell. In his opinion, the Master Plan was soundly developed and ‘…I was fascinated by the way in which the Governance was taking place’. He describes the procedures for approvals, and comments and how Fred Roche (General Manager) managed the Chief Officer team. Ben recalls the struggle to get house building under way, pressure from Government, and particular problems with plans for southern estates such as Netherfield and Beanhill. He recalls difficult decisions over building methods at that stag, and differences of opinion with Derek Walker, Chief Architect. Ben still regrets the Board’s approval of the non-traditional methods used for Netherfield and Beanhill. He also talks of the inevitability of ‘sink estates’; currently, in Ben’s opinion, this results from the Government’s not encouraging the building of rental housing.

Ben describes allocation of rental housing in the 1970s, and liaison with the Greater London Council’s (GLC) housing management team, who nominated tenants for MK. When the GLC abandoned this scheme in the late 1970s, MKDC reacted quickly, by recruiting firms from Japan, Germany and elsewhere to bring businesses and employees to MK. Other facets of Ben’s job at MKDC were social development; his innovative Community Alarm System for MKDC tenants was extended by MK Council to all tenants and is now used nationwide. Looking back, Ben comments: ‘overall, the Development Corporation at Chair, Board and Executive Management Committee (EMC) level did a very good job.’ He is unhappy with current policy, leading to lower housing standards and higher density but he still says: ‘I have been very proud to serve Milton Keynes and I decided when I left the employment of MKDC I would remain here …I thought that was the right thing to do’.