Come along to Chadwick Place (or to Graven Hill School if wet) to enjoy our 2nd annual fete. Looking to make it as good as last year.
Different date, but all the fun is the same: bouncy castle, games, food /drink vans, craft home-made cake, tombolas and much more. Four free tickets for the GHRA games for every GH household. These will be printed on a flyer which you will get through your door 2 weeks before the fete. Keep these safe and bring them along on the day to get your free turns. If you didn’t get them please contact us at officers@gravenhillra.com.
As last year, all GHRA games, the tombolas and bouncy castle are ticket-only payment. Tickets available using credit card or cash at the Ticket Booth at the fete entrance. All other stalls and food vans accept cash or cards depending on the vendor.
If you have a business and you’d like a stall at the fete to sell your goods, it’s £10 a pitch (bring your own table and chair )(and gazebo if you wish) Spaces are limited so contact us at officers@gravenhillra.com to reserve your place.
We are also looking for donations of:
Home-made cakes for the day of the fete
preloved teddies (or other soft toys) for the Teddy Tombola.
preloved books and DVDs for the book stall
If you can help with any of these, please email officers@gravenhillra.com to arrange drop off or collection (at least two weeks in advance of the fete for teddies and books and on the day for cakes)
The GHRA held an EGM to propose constitutional amendments and discuss the latest developments at Graven Hill with self builders, residents and local Councillors. You can download the slides and minutes of the meeting below.
Hundreds of residents and self-builders at Graven Hill – the UK’s largest self-build project featured on Grand Designs – are accusing its developer of neglecting the original vision and Cherwell District Council (CDC) of neglecting its responsibility to hold the company to account.
In an open letter, residents say the developer is blatantly ignoring the original vision of Graven Hill to be ‘‘an example of what can be achieved when self building and modern construction methods are employed at scale”. Instead Graven Hill Village Development Company (GHVDC) has been allowed to pursue a policy of volume build development of energy-inefficient, identikit houses. Those attracted to Graven Hill by the original vision are dismayed by the change. The letter urges the Council to revive the vision and actively scrutinise the company’s activities before the project becomes irredeemable.
One open-letter signatory, Simon Loo, says, “We built our house and poured our soul into this community because of the original vision. Stick with the original vision and stop playing short-term politics.”
Self-builder Alex Bell agrees: “The Graven Hill community itself is fully engaged in building the pioneering neighbourhood to which the developer (backed by the Council) committed at its inception. Unfortunately residents are now alone in supporting the self-build community vision as GHVDC has completely pivoted to the standard housing developer model.”
Little scrutiny
Pioneer self builder, Paul Troop, says, “The handful of councillors at CDC who are supposed to supervise this project have really dropped the ball here. There is little or no effective scrutiny of the management of [the development company] and little engagement with stakeholders. This allows the project to get away with repeated shortcomings.”
The open letter claims mismanagement has led to financial woes, forcing GHVDC to act like a mass developer, building low quality, budget units. It also says the developer has abandoned its commitment to build to the high energy performance standards that CDC specified at the project’s outset.
One consequence is a significant number of development company-built homes needing remedial work following complaints, many taking three years or more to resolve.
“Breaks my heart”
Leah Lewis, a self builder who featured on Grand Designs says:
It breaks my heart when I speak to neighbours and other residents about their issues with their GHVDC-built homes and the years it takes to rectify them. For many, this is still an ongoing battle.
My husband and I built to the high build standards mandatory and enforced for all self builders at Graven Hill and have a warm, comfortable home that’s energy efficient. This is what everyone who lives on Graven Hill should have as per the original vision. The developer’s pursuit of short-term targets and the sole goal of a profitable ‘Return on Investment’ is generating damaging impacts that residents will have to live with for decades to come.
With this open letter, we hope that Graven Hill can return to its promise(s) and build homes adhering to the high and enforced build standards expected of the self-builders and where a greater percentage of self-build plots are made available for any new and future build.
Change needed
Residents believe it is not too late for the Council to reaffirm the project’s original vision and demonstrate that there is a clear alternative to poor quality volume-build housing. Paul Troop agrees that “there is much promise to be realised”. However he also says, “the leadership at CDC needs to be a lot more engaged, and probably supported by bringing in specialists who know about building and development”.
Another resident and signatory to the open letter, Simon Taylor, has a stark message for the directors of the development: “GHVDC, it’s time to listen to your customers. If you choose not to, you should acknowledge that you’ve deliberately misrepresented and missold the original Graven Hill vision.”
Graven Hill residents hope the Council is listening, and does not waste this opportunity to transform housebuilding for the better. To date they have yet to receive a response to their letter.
Footnotes
In the initial business case for the project, the directors of Cherwell District Council wrote:
“The ‘crucial ingredient’ of the business case that ‘opened doors’ to Government support was for Graven Hill to be the UK’s first ever large scale self-build housing scheme. From the outset, Government (through the Department for Communities and Local Government ~ CLG) has supported Cherwell in this ambition.”
“The return on investment is of course more than just financial. The vision for Graven Hill has an opportunity to deliver far reaching social and economic outcomes that are unlikely to be delivered to the same extent or within the same timescales if led by a private sector developer.”
2“We truly believe that not every new homeowner wants to purchase something off plan on a new development, which is why Graven Hill is offering a real alternative solution.”
“Graven Hill embraces cutting-edge design and construction methods for UK housing. We advocate the use of highly energy efficient materials, the highest quality modular construction methods and contemporary designs which fit in with modern life.”
We understand residents are not happy with the direction GHVDC are taking Graven Hill. We believe the original vision for this village was a great undertaking that we could all get behind, but we are currently falling far short of this project’s original goals. This is your last chance to sign our open letter to Ms Rees, CEO of Cherwell District Council, asking her to commit to deliver the original vision for Graven Hill. A new outline planning application for the rest of the site is due to be released soon – now is the time to take a stand. To sign the open letter
Our Constitution was reviewed by the Committee on 24th May 2022. It was found that our Constitution was still fit for purpose. At the meeting, the Committee also agreed a process for handling issues raised by residents to the GHRA. Click here to access the outcome of the review.
