Construction of a major new retail development will begin soon following the completion of a multi-million pound deal secured by Cheshire East Council's development company Engine of the North.
It has the potential to create 1,200 jobs in the retail and restaurant sectors, subject to planning but will not be leisure-led.
The Alderley Edge-based retail property developer Consolidated Property Group (CPG) has entered into an agreement to purchase the 15-acre site next to the Handforth Dean retail park.
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, for which planning permission has already been granted, with the creation of 220 jobs.
Further phases of the project at the former Airparks site, off Earl Road, will be the subject of a planning application that is due to be submitted after the developer has completed a consultation with the public.
Residents will be able to find out more about the proposals and comment on them at a public exhibition to be held in the near future.
If approved, the further phases could take the whole scheme to around 320,000 sq ft of retail space, including shops, 'drive-thrus' and restaurants, plus car parking and a gym.
The deal between the Council and CPG followed a marketing exercise earlier this year to identify a suitable company and scheme.
It could be at least three years before the entire development is completed but phase one is expected to be finished by next summer.
The whole development will be a significant addition to the existing Handforth Dean Marks and Spencer and Tesco complex nearby, creating an out-of-town shopping city.
Councillor Jamie Macrae, chairman of Engine of the North, the Council's wholly-owned development company, said: "This is the best possible use of this land and we are delighted that it will make such a significant contribution to the economic and commercial prosperity of the Borough.
"The Handforth Dean development has been a tremendous success for Cheshire East and has proved to be extremely popular with our residents and the residents of other boroughs, such as Stockport and Manchester.
"I am also pleased that it will be a local business, CPG, that will carry forward this scheme, which will create in the order of 1,040 jobs, when completed."
Martin Ridgeway, group managing director at Consolidated Property Group, said: "It is really important that local people, councillors and community groups engage in the consultation process and help shape any proposals that come forward.
"We look forward to holding public consultation events before any further planning application is submitted.
"We are delighted to be working with Cheshire East Council's Engine of the North in creating this landmark scheme, which will deliver a high-quality destination, providing maximum number of jobs and choice for shoppers."
Comments
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Whilst historically it has been designated for employment use the Council, could, had they wished to do so, have re-classified this for housing.
According to CEC’s SHLAA dated February 2012 the site was suitable for development for housing, available and developable and could have provided 164 houses.
The adjacent Stanley Green Retail Park has numerous empty office blocks, warehouses, industrial units and empty sites totalling hundreds of thousands of square feet of unused employment land.
When I questioned the Councils decision Councillor Jamie Macrae said the Council had decided it wasn’t suitable for housing and yet the Council has approved a care village comprising of over 100 units and a housing estate of 175 units off Coppice Way adjacent to Marks & Spencers and proposes putting the North Cheshire Growth Village opposite the Handforth Dean site on Green Belt land.
I see no evidence here of Cheshire East Councils Brownfield First policy.
Councillor Toni Fox – Independent
Dean Row Ward - Wilmslow
if you are concerned about a traffic jam - get on your bike....healthier... quicker and you wont be exacerbating the traffic issue.
However having been made aware of the figures for Air pollution related deaths in the Cheshire East council area I will not be joining you any time soon.
1) green space - I doubt you or anyone else will be putting this so called green space to much use. But any attempt to damage a blade of grass will stir the mob up
2) Traffic - do you drive? perhaps you should take an alternative form of transport and help reduce the traffic - yes - you are part of the problem
3) Erosion of town centres - use them more frequently. Let's not build anymore retail space anywhere........ for fear of creating competition. The internet has already done that Jackie. So if a developer thinks it can work...let them invest
4) A concrete block with windows and a flat roof.....and? what do you propose? how about a gothic masterpiece? modernist masterpiece by ian simpson? im sure the retailers will be queuing up to pay double the rent to occupy a glamorous and ascetically pleasing building along a busy A road.....ummmmmm
Why not try the Hidden Jem, Home Bird, Elspeth Mills and 7's in Macclesfield?
Parking is free after three in selected parks and we have the Artisan and Treacle markets to browse on their relevant weeks.
1) the green space was used for cows - partly hidden from public view because they particularly liked being under the bridge
2) Traffic. As an oldie I can no longer use my bike - believe it or not the world does not revolve around the younger age group. Also, in case you didn't know the footpath and cyclepath running above the A34 - you cannot get all the way through - you have to come off and navigate through Colshaw Farm.........
3) It is about regenerating town centres, not building new ones. Extending Handforth Dean and building 1000 homes opposite is creating a new town - fine if there is proven evidence that it is needed - which there is not and I have read all the documentation on the Local Plan website. As to internet shopping - that creates less demand for shops not more. What it does create is more demand for logistical use.
4) No I don't want a gothic structure, but what I do want is a building which is sympathetic to the enviroment and which takes into account the high level of rainfall in the North West rather than a bought in design appropriate to the south of England.
So I think it's pointless trying to regenerate town centres, if what you are looking for is a return to what they were at any time before the turn of the century. It's better to accept towns will never see the same levels of shopping again, and think about what to do instead. A brave piece of town planning would be to give up on some of the shopping area in Wilmslow and contract and concentrate it back to an area that is realistic sustainable. It's been obvious for years Wilmslow can't support all the shop units on Grove Street, Water Lane, Alderley Road and all the other bits and pieces running off them. We can then do something else with the land instead, whether that is to provide homes or employment or whatever.
When the lovely development close to the M56 is finished along with 900 houses and no jobs or high school at Woodford (just starting to alarm those in Bramhall who are witnessing increased traffic congestion), 2300 houses in Handforth and now this, how will the SMMMS (enough Ms?) cope when the traffic analysis it used was based on 2008 levels?
Time to make exit plans.
We now grow less than 50% of our own food. That should worry you as we build on more and more sites.
And as much as I don't like the Adlington Road development, it certainly wasn't on greenbelt.
Please don't give me...."I've lived in wilmslow since 1965".
I have no vested interest - just a common sense view backed up with progressive views of the world.
as ive said before...its well scripted on here. .....We need to move with the times and even our cozy little green villages, affluent towns and mega cities need to grow with the times.
Unfortunately - most positive investment announcements on here attract the anti development mob (aka ROW) and other like minded individuals.
To suggest a developer shouldn't build on unused land along a busy A road, next to an established retail park for a fear of traffic jam (one that we all create) is absolutely ludicrous .....if not boarding on stupidity.
In your haste to be a "right on" champion of the free market you keep shooting yourself in the feet.
Have you tried travelling to an out of town retail development on a bike or a bus? Bet you had fun getting your flat screen TV or vacuum cleaner home. Was there enough room in your panniers for your weekly grocery shop?
Out of town shopping relies on the use of the motor car - fact.
This development will impact hugely on the local transport infrastructure. The A34 is already badly congested at peak times and the effect on surrounding roads is already felt as drivers look (unsuccessfully) for alternative routes.
Contrary to your assertions, all of this actually has a negative effect on commerce.
As a haulier I can tell you that the cost (ultimately to the consumer) of traffic congestion is enormous - next time you are in a traffic jam, look around you at all the trucks standing there and imagine the millions of pounds worth of goods and services that aren't being delivered - imagine also the hourly rate of all those people in cars sat drumming their fingers on their steering wheels and all of a sudden the business case starts to unfold.
Ironically the "online" market is growing with people able to shop efficiently, comfortably and securely from home. The growing inconvenience of visiting these retail blots will ensure that this growth accelerates.
I can easily imagine a situation in (say) ten years time when the only thing visiting Handforth Dean will be tumbleweed.
If you want to see what should be done, look at Holland !
Good luck with the extension on your house in King's Road Ryan. RoW is watching!
Sure... ROW woujd probably prefer the house to remain derelict, unsafe and an eyesore. I look forward to waiting several weeks Refusal... and an appeal to the inspectorate
Such is life I'm afraid with most planning applications these days.
As before, good luck with the application and best wishes from RoW.