Developers Taylor Wimpey have been revealed as the new owners of the Gomm Valley – after plans that were in the making for four years for a 1,000-home “green” village dramatically fell through.

Late last month, it was revealed that Aviva Investors, the owners of the 70-hectare Gomm Valley in High Wycombe, had sold it to someone else - throwing away years of work with developer Human Nature to build what was tipped to be one of the “greenest and most elegant” developments in England.

Named Little Haldens, the Gomm Valley would have housed cafes, shops, 1,000 homes, a school, nursery and community facilities, with plans for e-bikes, green corridors, gardens, community allotments and 4,000 new trees.

Human Nature slammed Aviva at the time for backing out of their agreement and urged them to “do the right thing” and hand the land over to the community to be kept as a wildlife haven instead.

But it has now been revealed that Taylor Wimpey – who are building the Pine Trees development in High Wycombe and who already own a field next to the railway line nearest Cock Lane – are the new owners of the Gomm Valley.

A statement by Mark Versey, CEO of Aviva Investors revealed that they had “exchanged contracts” with the developer on the sale of its interest in the site.

He said: “The land was managed within an Aviva Investors fund on behalf of Aviva customers saving for retirement, who were the ultimate beneficiaries. The financial interest was not owned by Aviva plc.

“Aviva Investors took over the management of the site in 2016 as part of the Friends Life acquisition and over the past five years, we have worked with a number of parties on the potential development of the site.

“In the middle of last year, we carried out a detailed review of the project, a key part of which involved financial analysis to reflect revised construction costs (including updating for Brexit and Covid-19), the lack of planning permission and the expected timeframes for development.

“We also instructed a third party to obtain a site evaluation.”

He added that they determined they were “no longer in a position to support the development” – a decision made in the “best interests of our customers who have been saving through the fund”.

He said: “We received a number of offers and, alongside price, considered other factors, including the certainty of the transaction completing. We also determined that we would only sanction a sale to a responsible and reputable new owner.”

Acknowledging the controversy caused by the sale, Mr Versey added: “While we understand not everyone will welcome the decision, it was made in good faith and after careful and thorough consideration of all factors which, in this case, included the interests of our customers saving for their retirement.”

It is not clear at the moment what will happen to the planning application that was submitted by Human Nature for Little Haldens.