<P> The flood plains of the Great Ouse and of its tributaries (the Ouzel and some brooks) have been protected as linear parks that run right through Milton Keynes . The Grand Union Canal is another green route (and demonstrates the level geography of the area--there is just one minor lock in its entire 10 - mile (16 km) meandering route through from the southern boundary near Fenny Stratford to the "Iron Trunk" Aqueduct over the Ouse at Wolverton at its northern boundary). The Park system was designed by landscape architect Peter Youngman, who also developed landscape precepts for all development areas: groups of grid squares were to be planted with different selections of trees and shrubs to give them distinct identities . However, the landscaping of parks and of the grid roads was evolved under the leadership of Neil Higson, who from 1977 took over as Chief Landscape Architect and made the original grand but not entirely practical landscape plan more subtle . </P> <P> The original Development Corporation design concept aimed for a "forest city" and its foresters planted millions of trees from its own nursery in Newlands in the following years . As of 2006, the urban area has 20 million trees . Following the winding up of the Development Corporation, the lavish landscapes of the Grid Roads and of the major parks were transferred to The Milton Keynes Parks Trust, a charity which is independent from the municipal authority and which was intended to resist pressures to build on the parks over time . The Parks Trust is endowed with a portfolio of commercial properties, the income of which pay for the upkeep of the green spaces . </P> <P> The land on which Milton Keynes was built was originally hedges, marshes, ancient woodland and wildflower meadows . Today, roses in particular thrive in its heavy clay soils . </P> <P> Milton Keynes has been dubbed Buckinghamshire capital of shrubs by The Guardian newspaper . </P>

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