Interview with Bernard Nicholls (b.1934).
Bernard Nicholls trained as an apprentice in road and bridge building in Yorkshire. In 1968, while working in Bedford, he was involved in checking the levels of the area of the New City of Milton Keynes; he was then offered the job of Chief Clerk of Works with Milton Keynes Development Corporation, starting work there in 1970. He recalls his first office, an old toilet, equipped with a phone. There were no other facilities at all until Jock Campbell visited; then proper cabins were provided on-site! Initially he thought he would stay for two years but: ‘I got so involved … that I decided I would stay’ and remained until MKDC closed in 1992. ‘Some of my best memories were working with some of the most brilliant people I’ve ever had the privilege of working with…brand new ideas, a brand new green field site’.
He talks about a number of projects in which he was involved, and the team working method. His job included being ‘The Mud man’: driving round the city trying to keep the mud off the road, prosecuting builders or lorry drivers where necessary. MKDC staff were advised to treat original residents with respect; recalling some difficult incidents with farmers whose land was compulsorily purchased, he notes that some farmers managed the transition well, like the one who set up in business as a builder. Now, to him the Snowdome.. ‘symbolises Milton Keynes… something brand new, totally new idea, brought into the city and it’s just going to grow.’ But he does have some regrets. He considers that about 90% of the vision of MK has been achieved.
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