Milton Keynes Council has been nominated for Co-operative Council of the Year, an award that recognises best practice as demonstrated by co-operative local authorities, celebrating the great work delivered at a local level.
Milton Keynes has always been a place of co-operation. Partnerships between public bodies, business and communities created a pioneering ‘new city’ - and help its people thrive today.
The excellent team collaborates across and beyond the council to help citizens. Milton Keynes is an enthusiastic supporter of the Unison Ethical Care Charter and the National Pensioners Convention Dignity Code – and in 2019 became the best performing English council for work with NHS partners to tackle hospital discharge delays.
The council embraced the Co-operative Party Charter against Modern Slavery and have been a Living Wage Employer since 2015, setting an example as MK’s second largest employer.
With community support Milton Keynes Council invested in new facilities and funding when other councils were cutting back:
- While 127 UK libraries closed, Milton Keynes built a new £1.2m library funded by developers, and signed up 6,000 new borrowers. Colleagues and volunteers helped extend hours
- The MK Community Foundation distributes the Community Capacity Fund to help grassroots groups
- The council invested £800,000 in co-operative homelessness partnerships and supported 100 rough sleepers off the streets for good
- £1.2M to the MK Gallery helped unlock £10M to expand and upgrade
- £100,000 was given to help parish and town councils keep the environment clean (Milton Keynes was the first unitary authority to be fully parished).
- The council partnered with Cranfield University to build a tech university sponsored by business; itself a result of 6,000 local conversations in our MK2050 futures programme
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