Oxley Woods Living

Life in an Oxley Woods eco house

 
Life in Oxley Woods Life in Oxley Woods Life in Oxley Woods

Archive for the ‘Good stuff’ Category

 

Oxley Woods Fireworks

October 15, 2012

Our neighbour Fiona is organising a fireworks party for all Oxley Woods residents. It’s a “bring your own” affair, so that’s any food, drinks and fireworks, and totally informal. Think of it as a The Big Lunch with a Bang (and warmer clothes)!

So if you like explosive entertainment, make a date for your diaries on Saturday 3rd November from 6:30pm onwards (fireworks starting at 7pm) in the field next to No.5 Murphy Road.

Please get in touch with Fiona on our forum or via her email address (details in the residents’ forum) to provide an idea of numbers planning to attend.

Posted in Community, Good stuff | Comments Off

Success!

February 27, 2012

Great news from earlier this evening – Milton Keynes Partnership voted unanimously to refuse the Taylor Wimpey planning application!

Committee members had visited the estate this afternoon before the meeting. They made positive reference to this in their comments, stating that the experience of seeing the site had made the case for refusal even stronger.

The Taylor Wimpey representatives asked for a deferral in order to have more time to negotiate about aspects of the application, but the committee didn’t accept this. Instead they agreed with us and the planning officers present that a fundamental revisions of the designs and a whole new planning application would be required.

A big thanks to all the residents of Oxley Woods and our neighbours from elsewhere in Oxley Park who submitted letters of objection – it was worth the effort!

So what next?

Residents continue to want to see a high quality completion of the site. RSHP are willing to do the work and the sub-contractors are here on site at present. We are ready to play our part in making this option a success.

Could Taylor Wimpey yet change their minds and agree to complete the original scheme? Let’s hope so.

If not, perhaps Homes and Communities Agency should look for another company to do a better job?

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Architecture, Community, Good stuff, Oxley Woods Future | Comments Off

Winning!

February 17, 2012

So now it is official.

Planning officials at Milton Keynes Partnership have today recommended that the Taylor Wimpey / CMYK proposals for the completion of Oxley Woods be refused planning permission.

Milton Keynes Council Development Control Committee will give their views of the proposals on Monday 20th February, and we expect them to back the recommendations of council officials. [Warning: 6Mb file]

The MKP committee will then reach a decision at its meeting on Monday 27th February. The report for that meeting is now available here.

Residents from Oxley Woods have been joined by neighbours from elsewhere in Oxley Park in opposing these plans – over 40 objections were submitted.

So what comes next?

We will certainly look to continue our dialogue with Homes and Communities Agency, MK Council and MK Partnership to try to secure a high quality completion for the Oxley Woods estate.

But the big questions now lie with Taylor Wimpey. They took a decision back in 2009 that they didn’t want to complete the site with the award-winning RSHP designs. That’s a real shame, and a waste of three years.

If Taylor Wimpey wants to reconsider we will be willing to give our input. Residents here have great ideas on how our homes could be further improved. And we’ve already shown our willingness to help sell them. How about it?

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Community, Good stuff, Oxley Woods Future | Comments Off

RSH+P back Oxley Woods residents

January 12, 2012

Oxley Woods residents had a busy time over the Christmas break, scrutinising the new Taylor Wimpey proposals and spotting many inaccuracies and omissions.We also met with planning officials to ask questions about the planning process.

In the course of our discussions, we picked up that it had been suggested to planning officials that the original architects Rogers Stirk Harbour and Partners (RSHP) didn’t want to be involved in completing the site.

Now that just didn’t chime with what we knew from our positive engagement with RSHP over the past year. We’ve worked with them to host visits to Oxley Woods from interested architects, BBC Radio 4, a TV company, and the mayor and councillors of Tower Hamlets council. We knew first hand the passion and commitment that RSHP have for their Oxley Woods scheme.

And now we have that confirmed in writing from RSHP themselves. Ivan Harbour has once again taken the trouble to write to Oxley Woods residents to share RSHP’s views on the designs put forward by Taylor Wimpey. He also reconfirms their continued willingness to develop alternative designs for the site based on the original concept.

All Taylor Wimpey has to do is ask… how about it?

Attached are Ivan Harbour’s letters to Oxley Woods residents from March 2011 and January 2012.

110309_Ivan_Harbour_Oxley_residents_letter

120109_Ivan_Harbour_Oxley_residents_letter

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Architecture, Good stuff, Oxley Woods Future | Comments Off

Meeting for Residents

December 30, 2011

Chris has arranged some meetings for those interested in the proposals to drop the Oxley Woods plans.

While short notice, we would encourage those interested in the plans to try to attend one, or both of the meetings.

The meetings will be held at the Oxley Park Community Centre (building next to Oxley Park Academy school), and be held on Friday 30th December, 4pm – 6pm and Monday 2nd January, 4pm – 6pm.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Architecture, Community, Good stuff, Oxley Woods Future | Comments Off

« Older Entries