Environment

This was reflected in our research, where the environment was the top area people felt was improving. [17]

• 43% Believe the natural environment is getting better [2]
  
  
• 85% Of people in MK agree they have access to nature [3]
  (the UK average is 76%)
  
  
• 75% Of people agree they have access to nature’s
  wellbeing effects [4]
  
  
• 63/391 Milton Keynes’ rank for all UK councils on the
  Climate Council’s 2025 Climate Action Scorecard [5]

In the Climate Council’s 2025 Scorecard, which assesses UK councils on the actions they’ve taken towards net zero, Milton Keynes’ score was in line with the UK average, with improvements in all areas except Buildings and Heating, and Collaboration and Engagement.

Whilst some see this as a positive achievement, others, such as the MK Climate Action Network, feel that there’s a long way to go.

There is a strong drive to support local and community initiatives for green space and biodiversity. The Milton Keynes Climate Action Network, founded in 2023, is building up its governance and campaigning capabilities.

Milton Keynes City Council secured £325,000 from the Forestry Commission’s Treescapes Fund to plant 6,000 trees and create vibrant forest gardens. These are supported and maintained by volunteers, and an active Facebook group keeps people up to date.

Milton Keynes is a leading city in the UK for ‘Green Roofs’ - buildings throughout the country with roof gardens and other nature-based roofs ‘that help towns and cities mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change whilst making them nicer, healthier places to live’.

Milton Keynes has green roofs on a school, the YMCA, and a branch of Sainsbury’s supermarket. The most recent, launched in early 2025, is on the roof of the OU. Described as the ‘Living Roof Live Lab’, the project is a collaboration between the OU, The Green Roof Organisation (GRO) and industry (Bridgman & Bridgman), with a goal of collecting data and evidence on the benefits of green roofs in the UK for both humans and nature (e.g. biodiversity, thermo-regulation and carbon capture).

OU project lead Kadmiel Maysek explains that Milton Keynes, 

“already has the equivalent area of six football fields of roofs that are suitable for green roof retrofitting, and the hope is that this research will inform and motivate the expansion of  green roofs across existing buildings as well as new developments in Milton Keynes and beyond.” [3]

Vital Thinking

Whilst there are many wonderful individual initiatives towards green space and biodiversity in the city, how can we ensure they are joined up towards the net-zero and sustainability goals?

Urb Farm and Urban Bee-lievers

MK Christian Foundation is a 40-year-old charity that supports young people through work-based learning schemes. Simon Rudiger, Director, explains: “Rather than an education provider that puts young people in the classroom and delivers teaching in the traditional sense, we think the value and benefit really is, and in the context of the farm and Urban Bee-lievers, getting the hands dirty or getting hands sticky.

Urban Bee-lievers is a beekeeping initiative with the goal of making Milton Keynes a bee-friendly city through educational initiatives. In addition to beehives at the Christian Foundation’s Urb Farm site, where young people and volunteers can get hands-on experience, they also have corporate partnerships throughout the city.

This includes at least five companies with sponsored beehives. This year, Urban Bee-lievers has been brought under the umbrella of Urb Farm, with the goal of creating a unified farm collective for trainees.

This means they can gain experience across the full food cycle: growing food, pollination, harvesting, and then cooking and selling at the local cafe. Environmental values and sustainable practices are being integrated with clear, work-based education.

Sarah Mist, Head Beekeeper, explains another form of collaboration: corporate partners invite Urban Bee-lievers in for educational workshops on bees and the environment, which in turn create opportunities for young people.

"The trainees actually come and visit companies and help run shops, which is great, because it’s building up their customer service skills. It’s also fascinating; often when we go to an office building, trainees have never been anywhere like that before, so it opens up their view of what work looks like"

Urb Farm and the beehives are supported by a diverse range of volunteers, who also form relationships with trainees, and themselves benefit from the opportunity to give back and socially connect.

One volunteer shared: “It was a really positive experience to be able to give back as well as being outside, socialising with others, and feeling like I helped to build a better community.”

Bringing together young people, volunteers, and businesses with a shared passion for the environment has created a valuable community ecosystem, as mutually beneficial as the workings of a beehive!