Interview with Dick Parker

Dick was appointed to MKDC in 1969 by the Chief Engineer at the time, Ernest Pye, to work on the detail of drainage systems from a plan by consultants JD and DM Watson. All the design work was done by hand: ‘…for things like surface water drainage calculations, we had to farm that out to a computer company, Scicon, at Kiln Farm’. He talks of their team-working to design drainage systems, working initially at Five Acres in Simpson: in his opinion, team-working with the other professionals was vital: ‘We felt that we were part of something special”, he says. Their aim was that downstream flooding, after development was complete, should be no worse than in the 1947 flood; this was achieved by constructing the balancing lakes. Foul sewage was another constraint: the planned 250,000 population meant a new sewage treatment facility was essential. The Cotton Valley site was chosen from three possibilities recommended by consultants. They discuss whether there was too much pressure to build so much advance infrastructure. Dick notes there were few controversies in Executive Management Committee (EMC) about their plans, but sometimes costs had to be pruned. He recalls difficult choices, and some innovative methods such as use of lasers to set pipe gradients and experimental use of concrete reinforced with steel fibres.

Dick comments on the likely life of the MK drains and the choices made to reduce wear on the structures; but he is doubtful about it coping with expansion to 400,000 population.. He remembers the collapse of the canal in 1971 in Woughton Park, and the lessons learnt. Talking of the lakes, Dick says they served a secondary purpose of recreation – ‘a virtue out of necessity’. Looking at MK as a whole, in his opinion, the most important decision was the grid road pattern. He says: ‘What make me proud about Milton Keynes is to hear residents say ‘we… love the environment, the landscaping, the shopping centre’. With hindsight he says: ‘I might have said go for a monorail plan.’