Green for go! King’s £50m move wins backing
School’s controversial plan backed by officers
CONTROVERSIAL plans to build a £13m retail park on the former Barracks mill site look set to get the green light.
The proposals for the six-acre site off Black Lane include four large units for Range, Dunelm and Sports Direct, a fast food outlet such as KFC and coffee ‘pod’ potentially run by Costa coffee.
Access to the site could be from a new junction off the Silk Road and there will be a 300-space car park.
Planning officers for Cheshire East Council have recommended councillors on the strategic planning board approve the scheme at their meeting on Wednesday, July 27.
This is despite objections from the council’s own Regeneration department, Macclesfield Town Council, Macclesfield Civic Society, Councillor Beverley Dooley, Eskmuir Securities Limited, which own the Grosvenor Shopping Centre, amid fears it would divert millions of pounds in trade from Macclesfield town centre.
In a report published ahead of the crunch meeting planning officers said the proposal brings “economic benefits through new jobs, investment in the area and by bringing a vacant brownfield site into viable use on one of the key gateways to Macclesfield”. It added: “...the impact of the proposal on the vitality and viability of Macclesfield town centre will be adverse but not significant adverse...”.
Critics of the scheme are also concerned over the impact on local roads with the potential for up to 500 vehicles to visit the site on Saturdays, but officers said it was acceptable.
There were also calls for the site to be used as housing, but developers Cedar Invest said housing was a not viable option, adding that a retail park would complement shops and regenerate an unsafe local eyesore.
Councillor Steve Carter, representing nearby Hurdsfield, said he would have preferred social housing on the site but said something needed to replace the ‘dangerous mill’.
He added: “This development will create retail jobs and remove a long standing eyesore.”
Barracks Mill has been a derelict eyesore since 2004 when fire ripped through the buildings.
More recently Macclesfield Police have been visiting schools to warn children of the dangers of trespassing on the land and last week officers released images of children caught risking their lives at the derelict mill.