Report in The Daily Telegraph on Friday 6 June 2014 about two of our concrete cows adorning the entrance of Britain’s contribution to the 2014 Venice Architecture Bienniale; in the report Urban Eden is credited with campaigning to defend the precepts of the original Milton Keynes masterplan.  To read the piece please follow this link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/architecture/10877333/Holy-cow-the-concrete-wonders-poised-to-charm-Venice.html.

Before reading Theo Chalmer’s column in Business MK this month, read how controversy dogged the appointment of the Council’s new chief executive, even before Urban Eden asked questions, about who knew what.  Please click on p03 june 2014, then double click on the PDF file.

Now read what Theo has to say.  In asking the questions he does, Theo has certainly ruffled some feathers, suggesting that the questions really did need to be asked.  A view reinforced by the fact that the story was subsequently picked up by Private Eye!  To see what Theo wrote this time, please click on p13 june 2014, then double click to open the PDF file.

Theo Chalmers criticises our council’s ill-conceived website redevelopment, but this is balanced by some praise for their stance on an important planning appeal.  To read the details click on p06 may 2014, then double click to open the PDF file.

Theo gets hot under the collar on the subject of icons.  To read, what he has to say, please click on p12 april 2014, then double click to open the PDF file.  Warning: does contain one rather rude expression, but with apologies!

Would the iconic red pyramid of the Point provide a statement entrance for Milton Keynes Museum?  Urban Eden applauds the idea, but we have concerns about the practicality and cost.  To see more, click on http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-26714148.

The BBC could only provide an audio recording of the whole of Theo’s interview on the morning of Monday 24 March in three parts, so to hear what was said by Theo and the Director of Milton Keynes Museum, about the redevelopment of the Point and the possible restoration of the original iconic structure as part of the new entrance for Milton Keynes Museum, please click on these as MP3 files, in turn:

http://urbaneden.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/POINT-ONE.mp3

http://urbaneden.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/POINT-TWO.mp3

http://urbaneden.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/POINT-THREE.mp3

This interview follows a BBC Look East news item in which Milton Keynes residents were asked their views on the future of the point, earlier in the month.  To view the item, please click on:

http://urbaneden.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/BBCLookEast1.3.14.wmv

Chairman Theo Chalmers provides feedback on his experiences contributing to a 3-day design workshop to develop guidelines and vision for Midsummer Boulevard East; to read what Theo has to say, please click on p08 march 2014, then double click to open the PDF file.

Chairman Theo Chalmers looks forward to 2014: somehow magically Milton Keynes got it right.  We must keep it right!  To read Theo’s column please click on p15 january 2014, then double click to open the PDF file and read on ……

Our Chairman’s views chime with those of other campaigners on proposals by the Parks Trust to sell off horse paddocks for development: the thin edge of a very large wedge.  See article in AboutMyArea: http://www.aboutmyarea.co.uk/Buckinghamshire/Milton-Keynes/MK/News/Local-News/263860-MK-Residents-Lose-Trust-In-The-Parks-Trust

In what he believes is one of his most important columns ever, Theo tackles the apparent determination of the Parks Trust to develop land supposedly entrusted to them to protect ‘in perpetuity’.  He also questions the manner in which they reveal their plans and the lack of consultation, as well as their unjustifiable labelling of land as of “relatively low value as open space, for wildlife, or visually” and as “not highly valued by the public”.

To see his column as published in Business MK, please click on p15 december 2013, then double click to open and view the PDF,