Oxley Woods Living

Life in an Oxley Woods eco house

 
 

Archive for the ‘Eco living’ Category

 

An open letter to Steve Rolt of Taylor Wimpey

November 15, 2011

Dear Mr Rolt,

As Regional Sales and Marketing Director for Taylor Wimpey South Midlands, I am certain you will be aware of the developments (or lack thereof) which have taken place at the multi-award winning, RSH+P designed Oxley Woods housing development, of which Taylor Wimpey have many times openly expressed their pride.

As one of the more “established” members of the development, I have personally been very active in the community. Our own property suffered from many problems, and we have an established blog and forum community now at http://oxleywoodsliving.co.uk and as another sign of how well this development is evolving, and taking pride in the houses you have built and sold, there is now even an Wiki for residents to share advice at http://oxleywoods.wikia.com/

Despite our issues, we have encouraged others to buy here, and would do the same given our time again. Oxley Woods is exemplary in so many ways, is very brave, beautiful, and somewhere Taylor Wimpey should rightly be very proud of.

In spite of this, as you are probably well aware, the powers that be are doing all they can to abandon the scheme far ahead of completion. Senior management at Taylor Wimpey appear hell-bent on destroying their good image, and rejecting the faith and good wishes of the local community they helped to established, by dropping the award winning homes in favour of far more traditional looking and/or “hybrid” building designs, which fall far short of the image Lord Rogers and his architectural firm have set forth.

You can imagine then, how delighted I and some fellow residents were to hear you express the views published by Easier (and no doubt other outlets) this past week. http://www.easier.com/96711-cutting-edge-milton-keynes-property.html

As Regional Sales and Marketing Director for Taylor Wimpey South Midlands you have a unique insight into your company that we as residents do not have, and to hear you declare Oxley Woods as a “runaway success” and a “truly special place to live”. When you wax lyrical about the “innovative, energy-saving designs and construction techniques” it reminds me of days past when Wimpey had a sales office on-site occupied by enthusiastic sales staff who appeared to believe they really were establishing a new way forward, something with potential, something to be proud of. I am so happy this spirit lives on within yourself, despite the actions of others in your organisation.

And it is these words, your pride, your passion for our homes and the Oxley Woods development which has lead me to make this request of you.

Please Mr Rolt, please do everything within your power to support our lobbying of Taylor Wimpey to finish the 145 home development as originally envisioned, proposed and sold to us here at Oxley Woods. Please back your words with actions and contact all those in senior management you can, to tell them they are wrong.

You are the Regional Sales and Marketing Director, you know what sells, you must believe these incredible homes have a market, you must know it is wrong for your company to abandon their goals, to run away from innovation and step back into the mundane. You can help us make this happen Mr Rolt, you sell these homes, tell your bosses what you’re telling the public in your press releases, that Oxley Woods is a runaway success, and to drop it now would be a travesty.

Thank you for your kind words regarding our estate and our homes. Please take this further and back us internally, it could really help turn a corner. You love this place, we love this place, do not let those in your company who wish to destroy it win.

Thank you.

Kind Regards,

Paul Mullett.

Please note this is an open letter, published at the time of writing. Your email address is publicly listed by Taylor Wimpey via a quick Google search.

Oxley Woods “a runaway success” says Wimpey…

November 15, 2011

Further indications that either Taylor Wimpey are prepared to commit to completing the award winning 145 home Oxley Woods development has arrived courtesy of Steve Rolt, Regional Sales and Marketing Director for Taylor Wimpey South Midlands.

Either that, or further indications that Taylor Wimpey will say anything to anyone to suit their current position, telling the public one thing, and planning authorities, suppliers, residents and architects another. But surely they wouldn’t be so blatantly duplicitous, right?

So let’s accept this as great news worth celebrating!

In what appears to be a Taylor Wimpey endorsed press release, promoting the “last few remaining” (wait, what, they can’t count to 145, can they?!) homes at Oxley Woods published at Easier Property the aforementioned Steve Rolt, Regional Sales and Marketing Director for Taylor Wimpey South Midlands, had the following to say:

Our high-quality new build homes in Milton Keynes at Oxley Woods have been a runaway success with style-conscious home-buyers looking for a truly special place to live.

These stunning properties in Milton Keynes are a design-led triumph, being created by the architects behind Paris’ iconic Pompidou Centre and London’s O2 Arena.

The article in general is well written and a lot of the positives certainly ring true, this place is, overall, a triumph and we adore living here.

But for Wimpey to wax lyrical on one hand while on the other telling current residents they can’t finish the site because of poor sales, higher costs and other issues, well you can draw your own conclusions as to what kind of company they are.

Furthermore, you can draw your own conclusions regarding those in positions of power who claim to support good environment, good neighbourhoods, and pioneering design on one hand, yet seem prepared to let Taylor Wimpey steam through with their plans to destroy a pioneering, award winning community with their only defence being higher profitability. It stinks, it really does.

So come on Steve Rolt, Regional Sales and Marketing Director for Taylor Wimpey South Midlands, I call for you to join us and fight for the completion of Oxley Woods as planned, it’s clearly won your heart and backing, so help us change your company’s mind and get this site finished!

BBC feature focuses on Oxley Woods

August 12, 2011

Oxley Woods housing, and their residents, have been featured as part of a wider BBC series fronted by Alvin Hall, regarding the financial state of the nation, and in particular on how this generation could be destined to be poorer than their parents.

You can read the BBC website article and listen in to the radio show live on Saturday 13th and Wednesday 17th August, as well as on BBC iPlayer.

Egg-cellent news from a neighbour

August 9, 2011

Yep, couldn’t avoid that pun, as much as I tried (which wasn’t very hard, to be honest).

Great news! You can now purchase free range eggs in Oxley Woods. They’re not from chickens that live on the estate, but they come from very close by and are cared for by our neighbours. So there’s low food mileage and supporting a small local enterprise providing at least two good reasons to buy.

For more details on how to place an order, please see the forum classifieds, here: Free Range Eggs For Sale.

Public exhibition of Oxley Woods plans

July 6, 2011

A public exhibition is to take place on July 13th 2011 at The Church of Christ the Cornerstone in Central Milton Keynes.

All residents should have received an invitation to attend a public display of the revised plans for the Oxley Woods development, and comment forms will also be available to provide feedback on the proposals should those attending wish to do so.

Apparently ”the development team“ will be on hand to answer questions and provide further information.

Discussion is already underway in the Oxley Woods Living Forums concerning the event.

Full address is: The Church of Christ the Cornerstone, 300 Saxon Gate West, Milton Keynes, MK9 2ES. Exhibition times are 3pm to 7:30pm