Great Western Park Didcot - to buy or not to buy?

[LCFGotham]

I'm considering buying a Taylor Wimpey house on the Great Western Park Development in Didcot. I wonder if anyone has any previous experience of this development and what it's like? I'm also a little concerned about the large proportion of 'housing association' properties on the development (both rented and shared ownership). I'm trying hard not to be a snob but the large amount of negative comments on the internet is making me think again. Does anyone have any advice regarding this? Thanks!

We were considering GWP for a while. I know what you mean by the "snob" factor, but any new housing development of more than just a row of houses will have this now. You can't build that many new homes without providing "affordable" ones.

The development we eventually chose also has roughly 30% of such homes - not too dissimilar from GWP, but it is much smaller in scale than GWP. But the HA seems to be more selective due to the nature of the development. The first few houses were given to people I never thought would need "affordable" homes (they're working for schools, etc.) The HA also has strict rules, e.g. tenants are not allowed to hang laundry on their balconies, no fixing cars in the car park, no vans allowed, etc. Even private home owners must have their front gardens professionally done (and pay a management company to do this) even though we own the land. What put me off about GWP was the sheer size of it. The larger the area, the more difficult it will be to control things when issues arise (it's like a teacher in a big class sort of issue).

^^ Forgot to mention - maybe get hold of the HA covenants for GWP and see what rules they have?

Feel free to pm me. GWP is ace. I live next door to a few scientists who work locally. Extremely quiet up here and lovely community feel. Don't believe what you read. You are better off speaking to people who live on the estate directly.