The Millennium Communities Programme (or Millennium Villages initiative), is an
English Partnerships
English Partnerships (EP) was the national regeneration agency for England, performing a similar role on a national level to that fulfilled by regional development agencies on a regional level. On 1 December 2008 its powers passed to a successor ...
initiative to construct 7 new 'villages' that are intended to 'set the standard for 21st Century living, and to serve as a model for the creation of new communities' in
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
.
This is to be achieved by promoting innovative building technologies, increased economic and social self-sufficiency, high urban design standards, and
sustainable development
Sustainable development is an organizing principle for meeting human development goals while also sustaining the ability of natural systems to provide the natural resources and ecosystem services on which the economy and society depend. The des ...
principles.
The villages
A competition for the development of the first of the 'Millennium Villages', Greenwich Millennium Village, was launched in 1997. It is expected that 6,000 new homes will have been completed within the programme by 2010, although construction will continue beyond this.
The full list of Millennium Communities is:
*
Greenwich Millennium Village
Greenwich Millennium Village (GMV) is a mixed-tenure modern development on an urban village model located on the Greenwich Peninsula in Greenwich, in south-east London, and part of the Millennium Communities Programme under English Partnerships ...
,
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
*
Allerton Bywater Millennium Community
Allerton Bywater is a semi-rural village and civil parish in the south-east of the City of Leeds metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 4,717. The village itself is north o ...
, near
Leeds
Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...
*
New Islington Millennium Community,
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
*
South Lynn Millennium Community
South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west.
Etymology
The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...
,
King’s Lynn
King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is located north of London, north-east of Peterborough, nor ...
*
Telford Millennium Community
Ketley is a large village and part of Telford in the borough of Telford and Wrekin and ceremonial county of Shropshire, England. It is a civil parish. Immediately to the north of Ketley is Hadley.
Residential development
East Ketley is currentl ...
,
Telford
Telford () is a town in the borough of Telford and Wrekin and ceremonial county of Shropshire, England, about east of Shrewsbury, south west of Stafford, north west of Wolverhampton and from Birmingham in the same direction. With an est ...
*
Oakgrove Millennium Community
In January 2004, Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott announced the United Kingdom government's Expansion plans for Milton Keynes However, the change of government in 2010 and the abolition of the Regional Spatial Strategy (SE Plan) in 2012/13 saw ...
,
Milton Keynes
Milton Keynes ( ) is a city and the largest settlement in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of its urban area was over . The River Great Ouse forms its northern boundary; a tributary ...
*
Hastings Millennium Community,
Hastings
Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England,
east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...
Environmental objectives
Among the environmental aims are cutting energy used during constructing 50%, energy consumption by 20%, water consumed by 20%, and waste disposal by 50%.
Some of the villages plan to go beyond this - for example Greenwich plans to cut primary energy used by 80
using
low-energy building
A low-energy house is characterized by an energy-efficient design and technical features which enable it to provide high living standards and comfort with low energy consumption and carbon emissions. Traditional heating and active cooling systems ...
techniques and
renewable energy
Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale. It includes sources such as sunlight, wind, the movement of water, and geothermal heat. Although most renewable energy ...
technologies.
Similar programmes
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Vauban, Freiburg
Vauban () is a neighbourhood (''Stadtteil'') to the south of the town centre in Freiburg, Germany. It was built as "a sustainable model district" on the site of a former French military base named after Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban, the 17th cen ...
, Germany
*
BedZED
Beddington Zero Energy Development (BedZED) is an environmentally friendly housing development in Hackbridge, London, England. It is in the London Borough of Sutton, north-east of the town of Sutton itself. Designed to create zero carbon e ...
, London
See also
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Code for Sustainable Homes The Code for Sustainable Homes was an environmental assessment method for rating and certifying the performance of new homes in United Kingdom. First introduced in 2006, it is a national standard for use in the design and construction of new homes ...
*
Energy efficiency in British housing
Domestic housing in the United Kingdom presents a possible opportunity for achieving the 20% overall cut in UK greenhouse gas emissions targeted by the Government for 2010. However, the process of achieving that drop is proving problematic given t ...
*
Environmental design
Environmental design is the process of addressing surrounding environmental parameters when devising plans, programs, policies, buildings, or products. It seeks to create spaces that will enhance the natural, social, cultural and physical environm ...
*
Sustainable architecture
Sustainable architecture is architecture that seeks to minimize the negative environmental impact of buildings through improved efficiency and moderation in the use of materials, energy, development space and the ecosystem at large. Sustainable ...
*
Sustainable Communities Plan
The Sustainable Communities Plan was launched in 2003 and was a key policy of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister in the Labour Government, guiding its regeneration and departmental objectives. It led to a range of policies and plans which wer ...
External links
English Partnerships official Millennium Communities Programme pageMillennium villages and sustainable communities (independent assessment)
In the media
*Jan 2007, ''New Builder''
Community homes sold in South Lynn">First Millenium Community homes sold in South Lynn
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