The early years

The Buszy has always been a focal point of the skateboard scene in Milton Keynes,^[3][4] even before it became a designated area to skateboard.^[5] Long before the area was designated a skateboard plaza, Chris Ince and his family owned and ran the One Stop Café inside the bus station. They sold skateboard products to the local skaters who skated the marble ledges and open flat ground areas around the station.^[6] The first skateboard competition was held at the Buszy in 1992, attended by between four and five hundred people. The Ince family, Chris, Jennifer, Steven and Damian built Radlands indoor skatepark that same year.^[7]

The SK8MK Project

In 2002, the SK8MK project started with the aim of tackling tensions surrounding skateboarding and the need for an area in the city that was dedicated to skating. Proposals from the skate community led to the Central Bus Station being earmarked. No longer used, it had long since been a popular spot for skaters thanks to the concrete infrastructure and open spaces. It was agreed that 'The Buszy' – as it became known – needed to reflect the popular skate spots of the city. Local skateboarder Rob Selley and designer Richard Ferrington led the project, and when finished in 2005, The Buszy became the first purpose-built skateboard plaza in the world.

— mkskate.org (Ryan Gray, Jen Kavanagh, Caterina Loriggio and Ben Powell)^[8]

Local skateboarder and cinematographer Lindsay Knight was instrumental in helping the local council understand the needs of the local skateboarders, making a video to help the Chamber of Commerce understand street skateboarding. He countered the actions of the local police, who had supported the criminalisation of skateboarding in Milton Keynes.^[9]

The Elder Gate Crew

The Buszy is historically the home of the Elder Gate Crew (EGC), a group of locals who skated at the spot together regularly. With the stewardship and cinematography skills of member Carter Hewlett, they released two skate videos documenting skateboarding at the Buszy during the late 2000s, named "The Elder Gate Crew Video" and "Get to Know".^[10][11][12]

MK Skate

In May 2019, MK Skate, a project exploring the history of skateboarding in Milton Keynes, was founded, going on to secure £97,800 in National Lottery Heritage Funding. To celebrate Milton Keyne's contribution to skateboarding, MK Skate delivered a city centre trail, an exhibition shown between 27 September to 22 December 2019, and a book. A permanent record of Skateboarding in Milton Keynes has been stored in the city's archive and the Milton Keynes Museum.^{[13][14][15][16]}

Obstacles

The Buszy has the following obstacles inside of the designated skate area:

• A large marble and granite T-block
• A low curved block
• A 5 stair stairway
• A large metal edged manual pad
• A long flat medium height marble block
• A short to medium in length, medium height marble block
• A short very high to low manual pad
• A small stair set
• A fairly long metal edged, downwards sloping, successive chain of smoothly connected blocks also known as a "roller coaster"
• A medium height, very long marble hubba style ledge down 5 stairs
• A flat low, medium length metal bar
• A medium height, very long metal edged hubba style ledge down 5 stairs

Because the area is a street skateboarding plaza, the majority of the flooring is covered using the same large square floor tiles found in the rest of Central Milton Keynes. This is instead of a power-flowed concrete constructed floor found in traditional skateparks. Skateboarders new to the spot will notice the melodic rumble of the tiles as their wheels roll over them.

Notable events

There have been many jams, demos and competitions at the Buszy. The plaza has held demos and received visits from renowned professional skateboarding teams such as Girl Skateboards, Flip, Zoo York, DC, Element, Blueprint and Matix Clothing.^[17][18][19]

Make a Difference (MaD)

In 2005, the Community interest company Make a Difference (abbreviated to MaD), was given control of the Buszy to turn the disused building into a multi-service youth hub.^[24]

With a £500,000 investment from the SITA Trust and V, the national youth volunteering service,^[25] MaD spent the following ten years redeveloping the former bus station and delivered community youth services to the area.

MaD was also instrumental in the majority of the skate jams and competitions that occurred between 2005 and 2015. Events were routinely overseen by Liam Snusher.^[26]

On 19 January 2016, MaD's Buszy Twitter account announced the closure of the youth hub.^[27] The building owners, Milton Keynes Development Partnership, an agency of Milton Keynes Council, decided not to permit MaD further use of the building, stating that it did not have direct control of the Milton Keynes Development Partnership.^[28][29] The council now operates the carpark.^[30]

The Winter Night Shelter

Since MaD moved out of the building, The Winter Night Shelter has used the Buszy to provide shelter and assistance to the homeless population of Milton Keynes, which has grown significantly since sweeping local and national government cutbacks came into force.^[31][32]