But it isn’t just students keen to learn about Oxley Woods. As well as featuring in the media (everything from Radio 4 Moneybox to Flog it!), residents regularly host visits from councils and companies interested in pursuing similar approaches to the panellised construction used here. In recent months, we’ve fielded repeat visits and many questions from architects and bankers keen to learn more about building performance:

Can you hear the neighbours? (No)

Is it cheap to heat? (Yes)

Aren’t these massive windows fantastic? (I see you are thinking aloud, but anyway: yes, they are)

What would you change if you could? (More storage space, please)

Do residents really get together for picnics and planning application battles? (Yes, and yes)

The list goes on…

Which makes it such a shame that Taylor Wimpey seem set on not wanting to complete our internationally award winning Oxley Woods estate. Their latest plans are a tweaked version of the scheme rejected by planners last year. Once again they are proposing to use traditional building methods and would only meet the minimum environmental performance and liveability standards. Anything that could be conceived of as innovative design or an attempt to match the standards set by the existing homes was rejected behind a claim of ‘viability’.

But viewed from our perspective, it looks like Taylor Wimpey are failing to move with the times. We know they decided years ago they didn’t want to complete the site as originally proposed and have continued to seek ways of wriggling out of their commitments. Meanwhile, other housebuilders are increasingly looking at alternative methods of construction.

Furthermore, the techniques used here at Oxley Woods have themselves been improved. Now part of the SIG group, the Insulshell panel system achieves even greater building performance while maintaining the simple and speedy build times of the original design. But don’t take our word for it. Have a watch on YouTube:

So how about it, Taylor Wimpey? You may not want to finish Oxley Woods properly, but we residents do. And if you really don’t want to take up our offer of assistance, we’ll gladly work with anyone else interested in securing a positive solution for the estate. Because it’s our home, and a great place to live – both inside and out. We already have brilliantly designed houses, and a friendly community of neighbours. It doesn’t seem unreasonable to want that for the remainder of the site too.

Rapleys Commercial Property & Planning Consultants are acting on behalf of Taylor Wimpey and are organising a public exhibition of their new plans for Oxley Woods.

If you’re interested in the future of Oxley Woods, you should be there.

But remember, you DO NOT have to offer any preference, opinion, or views at all, especially if there is not one that perfectly matches your own personal views. Watch out for those tricks, again.

However, we really hope there’ll be something positive and this time around Wimpey have listen to our concerns and wont be trying more off-the-shelf shoe boxes instead of carrying on in the spirit of our award winning development.

So, Thursday 10th January 2013 between 15:30 and 21:00 at Oxley Park Community Centre, Redgrave Drive, Oxley Park is the date for your diaries.

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.

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?

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?