Optimizing multiple things at once - logistics for suppliers, specified land use on adjacent parcels ( a nod to developers ) , but mostly tax revenue for the town where zoning happens.

The British invented optimization in the WWII sense of the word, so yeah.

I don't know Britain beyond what I read of it, but I understand there's the concept of "little Britain" as a thing so maybe that's why small shops exist. In Montreal, I know there are actual bodegas in the city center and American-style convenience stores in the 'burbs.

Milton Keynes is probably the worst place I've ever been to in the UK.

No easy walking around town. All chain stores, very few independent shops. No hailable black cabs for some reason, everything involved calling a minicab and waiting. Just a terrible city to be in without a car and a designated driver.