Fairford Leys is an estate in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England, designed in the

urban village In urban planning and design, an urban village is an urban development typically characterized by medium-density housing, mixed use zoning, good public transit and an emphasis on pedestrianization and public space. Contemporary urban village id ...

style, with the street and block layout geared to pedestrians more than cars. The three main developers of the development were bound by a design code to ensure architectural cohesion and this is maintained through covenants on the deeds of each property.

Concept

Fairford Leys is a mixed use development consisting of 1,900 homes, on the western edge of Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England. It has its own centre, centred around a square, hosting a number of traditionally fronted shops, award-winning hair salon, supermarket, three restaurants, a Post Office, a popular, family run nursery, an ecumenical

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * C ...

and a community centre. It also has a private health club with swimming pool which opened in October 2003. The

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

for Fairford Leys is Coldharbour which is an

Aylesbury Vale The Aylesbury Vale (or Vale of Aylesbury) is a geographical region in Buckinghamshire, England, which is bounded by the Borough of Milton Keynes and South Northamptonshire to the north, Central Bedfordshire and the Borough of Dacorum (Hertford ...

district. Its northern portion is home to a modern industrial area. The development is an example of an

, which is a town planning concept started in the UK in the late 1990s, with its roots in

new urbanism New Urbanism is an urban design movement which promotes environmentally friendly habits by creating walkable neighbourhoods containing a wide range of housing and job types. It arose in the United States in the early 1980s, and has gradually i ...

and garden city ideals. The emphasis for this type of development is to focus on pedestrians over cars and other forms of community interaction. Fairford Leys is one of the first examples of a development planned using a

Design Code A design code is a document that sets rules for the design of a new development in the United Kingdom. It is a tool that can be used in the design and planning process, but goes further and is more regulatory than other forms of guidance commonly us ...

, championed by

John Prescott John Leslie Prescott, Baron Prescott (born 31 May 1938) is a British politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and as First Secretary of State from 2001 to 2007. A member of the Labour Party, he w ...

and the Labour government of the late 1990s. The aim of the code was to create an urban village development and it sets out design rules during, and also after, the construction phase, to ensure the individual developers all build to the same design details and to create cohesion to the appearance of the development as a whole. The driving force behind this was the original landowner, the

Ernest Cook Trust The Ernest Cook Trust is a large educational charity in England. It was founded in 1952 by the philanthropist Ernest Cook, the grandson of Thomas Cook. Each year the Trustees distribute more than £1.25m in educational grants to benefit children a ...

. The

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

is inspired by traditional Aylesbury housing styles and pastiche Victorian lamp posts and railings. The centre of the estate is surrounded by the "city wall", a concept originating from the masterplanner John Simpson and inspired by medieval city walls, such as York. This consists of three- and four-storey townhouses and the main entrance to the centre is marked by two towers, loosely modelled on medieval

gate tower A gate tower (german: Torturm) is a tower built over or next to a major gateway. Usually it is part of a medieval fortification. This may be a town or city wall, fortress, castle or castle chapel. The gate tower may be built as a twin tower on ...

s. Developments in Fairford Leys are controlled by the 16-page guidelines, which are a summary of some of the important aspects of the original Design Code. They govern the look and materials used in several aspects of construction, including roof materials, chimneys, window materials, front boundary fences and planting, and front door colours. The centre contains a higher density of housing, with larger

detached A stand-alone house (also called a single-detached dwelling, detached residence or detached house) is a free-standing residential building. It is sometimes referred to as a single-family home, as opposed to a multi-family residential dwelli ...

properties at the edge of the estate. Originally the design included play areas, open spaces, playing fields and a

golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". ...

. The golf course has since been closed and fenced off due to the route of the impending HS2 crossing the area.

Facilities

Fairford Leys has its own parish council (Coldharbour Parish), a beauty salon,

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

, GPs' practice and neighbouring pharmacy,

veterinary Veterinary medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with the prevention, management, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, disorder, and injury in animals. Along with this, it deals with animal rearing, husbandry, breeding, research on nutri ...

practice,

Women's Institute The Women's Institute (WI) is a community-based organisation for women in the United Kingdom, Canada, South Africa and New Zealand. The movement was founded in Stoney Creek, Ontario, Canada, by Erland and Janet Lee with Adelaide Hoodless being the ...

, ecumenical church, and a

community centre Community centres, community centers, or community halls are public locations where members of a community tend to gather for group activities, social support, public information, and other purposes. They may sometimes be open for the whole co ...

(known as the Fairford Leys Centre), which hosts a wide variety of events and activities, including dance classes, badminton, karate, children's parties, wedding receptions, corporate functions and council meetings. The main centre was officially opened in November 2004.

Education

St Mary's Church of England School is a mixed,

voluntary controlled A voluntary controlled school (VC school) is a state-funded school in England and Wales in which a foundation or trust (usually a Christian denomination) has some formal influence in the running of the school. Such schools have less autonomy than ...

, primary school, which has about 320 pupils from the ages of four to 11. It was purpose built for the Fairford Leys estate but the education authority (Bucks County Council) underestimated the number of children that would live within the Estate. Consequently, a number of children living within Fairford Leys cannot get a place.http://www.buckscc.gov.uk/bcc/get/assets/docs/schools/Fairford_Leys_Parents_Consultation.pdf In 2009,

Buckinghamshire County Council Buckinghamshire County Council was the upper-tier local authority for the administrative county and later the non-metropolitan county of Buckinghamshire, in England, the United Kingdom established in 1889 following the Local Government Act 1888 ...

estimate that up to 44 children will not be able to take up a place.

Transport

Fairford Leys is served by a popular bus service, the Silver Rider. It commenced in 2004 and runs directly to Aylesbury town centre in around 15 minutes, designed to run at times to suit commuter travel from Aylesbury Station to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

References

External links