Talking politics

David Rutley

Macclesfield MP THE announcement that AstraZeneca is investing another £75m in its Macclesfield site is more good news for the local economy. The new funding will be used to build a new state of the art packing and warehouse facility. This is in addition to investments in a new sterile production facility and the refurbishments of two other buildings that see the total recent investments in the site rise to £197m.

This is a clear vote of confidence in the town and in our highly skilled workforce. I am most grateful for all the hard work of the AstraZeneca team in Macclesfield for making this possible.

The decision also strongly supports the Cheshire Science Corridor strategy. The government has demonstrated its clear support for this initiative in recent weeks, by awarding Enterprise Zone status to the corridor.

This will enable Cheshire and Warrington Enterprise Partnership to provide significant help with business rates to life science start-up companies, including at Alderley Park. This will make the site an even more attractive location for biotech start-ups.

In addition, the Chancellor used last month’s Autumn Statement to announce an initial investment of £4m to establish an Antimicrobial Resistance Centre of Excellence at Alderley Park, subject to a business case. This will work to combat the threat from emerging strains of diseases resistant to existing treatments.

These achievements follow on from the creation of a Catapult centre for Medicines Technologies at Alderley Park in July and the continued success of the site’s BioHub facility, which is now home to 500 people.

Combined with the recent announcement that science funding will be protected in real terms during this parliament, these are welcome developments for the local economy.

It is great to see such positive progress being made in north east Cheshire.