BIG PICTURE

PLANS WILL HIT TOWN CENTRE

Barracks Mill site near Tesco.

I believe that both these schemes will have a detrimental effect on Macclesfield town centre. The first will remove from the town an institution that has been at the heart of Macclesfield for centuries.

No longer will pupils be able to walk into town in their lunch break or after school. No longer will pupils have the convenience of Macclesfield railway station as a means of getting to and from school. No longer will parents be able to pop into the shops when dropping off or collecting their children.

Moving the school to a green field site without any local amenities will leave a great void in the town.

The idea of putting a retail park on the site of the derelict Barracks Mill site is misguided. It will simply be another reason for people not to go into the town centre.

No-one disputes the need to redevelop a site which has been an eyesore for over 11 years, but why can it not be used for housing?

Allocating the site for

●● This week’s Big Picture of a starling was sent in to us by Tracy Challis. Email your images to us at macclesfieldexpress@ menmedia.co.uk or upload them to our Flickr page at www.flickr.com/groups/maccpics. We’ll print the best ones