Members of the public are being invited to find out about and comment on plans for a new shopping park at Handforth Dean which has the potential to create 1,200 jobs in the retail and restaurant sectors.
Alderley Edge-based retail property developer Consolidated Property Group (CPG) has entered into an agreement with Cheshire East Council to purchase a 15-acre site next to the Handforth Dean retail park which it plans to develop into a retail-led mixed-use scheme.
Construction of the first phase is due to begin in December. This will see the opening of a large-scale Next fashion and homeware store, with the creation of 220 jobs - for which planning permission was granted in 2013.
If approved, the further phases will offer shops, 'drive-thrus' and restaurants, plus car parking, a hotel and a gym.
Martin Ridgway, Group Managing Director at Consolidated Property Group, comments: "It is really important that local people and the politicians who represent them get to help shape any proposals that do come forward.
"In a rapidly changing retail environment it is our priority to deliver a modern high- quality destination which provides the maximum number of jobs, as well as the opportunities and choice that the people of Handforth and the wider area expect.
"Handforth Dean shopping park will provide a compelling case for local people to shop within the area and reduce the need to travel further afield in order to access premium retail brands."
Local people will be able to find out more about these further phases and comment on them at a public exhibition which will be held on from 3pm to 6pm on Friday 4th and Saturday 5th December. The exhibition will take place at Best Western Plus Pinewood on Wilmslow, 180 Wilmslow Road, Handforth, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 3LF.
CGIs of the proposed entrance to Handforth Dean shopping park and new Next store.
Comments
Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.
I'm all for providing more jobs, but at what cost?
Only the big retailers will hugely profit. Do we really need another Next, etc?
I'm getting sick of the sight of these high street retailers where everyone is selling the same thing and much prefer shopping and dining in smaller independent places which offer something completely different, together with a higher quality service and welcoming.
Despite the very best efforts of individuals, WBG etc the spiral of closure, job losses etc could well begin... It would be funny if it wasn't so sad and it wasn't Wilmslow...
However, having had time to consider my options I have decide to grant my tuft Green Belt status and sell it off, complete with planning permission for four hundred executive homes, in 10 years time.
My other concern is the extra traffic this will cause. We already have the scenario where the area around the A34 and onto the Cheadle Hulme Trading Estate is getting gridlocked by the Airport Link Road construction! And thats before any possible Housing Developments on the other side of the A34!
Last week I had to go to Salford Royal urgently, 20 miles approx but due to the traffic to Trafford Centre it took me 2 hours!!!
I just hope a dedicated road system put in place so as to relieve the pressure on local roads, just hoping.
Just think what the traffic would be like through Wilmslow and Handforth if the bypass had not been built with so much funding from private development.
If you have more information, I would welcome that you share it here.
Frankly, this story still has some way to run.
Despite the bypass which has surely attracted substantial through traffic, the traffic through Wilmslow will only grow. The queue to enter the town centre from the M56 at 3.30pm on Friday stretched back to Jim Everson fields. The exodus from Waters (who provided no new jobs for the town) all heading West clogs up the roundabout - stop lights or staggered leaving will be necessary when they expand. As for the mess created around Stanley Green by "forward planning"......