About CMK Town Council
CMK Town Council is the parish council for the residents of Central Milton Keynes (CMK) – the city centre of Milton Keynes. The parish area (shown above) is bounded by the grid roads H5 (Portway) to the north and H6 (Childs Way) to the south, and by the West Coast railway line to the west and the Grand Union canal to the east. The parish is divided into 3 parish wards – the West Ward (from the railway lines to Saxon Gate), the East Ward (from Saxon Gate to Marlborough Gate), and Campbell Park Ward (from Marlborough Gate to the canal).
CMK parish has about 3,000 residents and over 1,000 businesses. The Town Council has 8 elected councillors – 3 from the West Ward, 3 from the East Ward, and 2 from Campbell Park Ward.
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What is a parish?
A parish is a geographical area like a county or borough, but on a smaller scale. People who live in a parished area elect councillors to represent them on the parish council for the area. Parish councils are the most local level of government – often called the ‘first tier of local government.’
Milton Keynes is a borough which is divided into about 45 parishes, one of which is Central Milton Keynes (CMK) – the parish covering the city centre.
What is the role of a parish council?
A parish council has overall responsibility for the well-being of their local community. The work of CMK Town Council generally falls into three main categories:
- representing the views of our local community on a wide range of matters
- improving services to meet the needs of our residents
- striving to improve quality of life for our parish
What is the difference between a parish council and town council?
Not a great deal. They both have the same powers and can provide the same services. The only difference is that a town council usually includes the town or city centre and has decided that it should be known as a town council instead of a parish council, and often has a mayor.
What is the difference between CMK Town Council and Milton Keynes Council?
A great deal. Milton Keynes Council (MKC) is the council for the whole borough of Milton Keynes, representing about 250,000 residents. MKC provides most of the local services for residents, from street lighting and road repairs to social services and council housing.
CMK Town Council is the parish council for the city centre area, representing about 3,000 residents. Our work focuses on influencing the borough council (MKC) to deliver better services and to make better decisions for our residents (on local development proposals and licensing applications, for example). We also partner with MKC on a number of projects to improve the quality of life for our residents.
How is CMK Town Council funded?
Like all parishes, our work is funded through a parish precept tax.
In 2021-22, CMK and Campbell Park households will pay an average of £77.97 precept tax to support our work. This is a nil increase on the previous year. The sum is considerably below the average parish precept (£105.50) levied by other parishes of Milton Keynes. This small annual sum is added to the council tax per household to support of the work of Milton Keynes Council (which also provides most of the local services throughout the borough).
Do CMK Town Councillors get paid?
No. All CMK Town Councillors are unpaid volunteers – we do not even claim allowances.
Is Campbell Park a part of CMK?
Yes. Some years ago, however, the blocks adjacent to Campbell Park were included in the parish boundary of Campbell Park Parish Council (CPPC). Following the 2010 Boundary Review by Milton Keynes Council (MKC), these blocks – known as the Campbell Park grid square – were transferred to the the parish area of CMK Town Council. So Campbell Park belongs to CMK parish and not Campbell Park parish.
