Councils should stop complaining about not being able to build infrastructure if they are “spreading” new homes too thinly, the leader of Milton Keynes Council has said. “So don’t complain that you don’t get the infrastructure, because 250 houses does not bring in the level of 106, or we call it tariff or CIL [community infrastructure levy] to deliver these community facilities,” he said. Instead councils should prioritise “strategic level developments” of at least 3,500 houses. In Milton Keynes he said new estates are around 15,000 and that “for every 3,500 houses you get three schools, you get a doctor’s surgery, your get community services”. Cllr Marland said: “What people don’t know about Milton Keynes is it’s the seventh biggest city economy now.”