Macclesfield town centre is set for a £90m overhaul after plans for a new shopping and cinema complex were given the go ahead.

The controversial ‘Silk Street’ plans were approved at a dramatic meeting of the Cheshire town’s council’s strategic planning board on Wednesday night.

The landmark decision brings to an end a near decade-long debate over the redevelopment of the town centre.

Councillors spent more than eight hours discussing the proposals which include 19 new high street shops, a new town square and a 700-space multi-storey car park.

And they voted overwhelmingly to grant planning permission with nine councillors on the 14-man committee voting for them, despite three out of the four Macclesfield ward councillors on the committee voting against it.

Developers Wilson Bowden said they were ‘thrilled’ at the decision and indicated that work could start as early as 2014.

Will Robinson, retail director for the firm said: “This will benefit Macclesfield. It will benefit retailers in the town and the new retailers coming into the town.”

The chairman of the committee, Coun Harold Davenport, hailed it as a ‘historic day’ for the town and said he believed they had made the right decision.

But campaigners said their views had been ignored and say they fear the town could be left with a ‘white elephant development’.

Beverley Moore, from campaign group Wake Up Macc said: “We are disappointed but not surprised at the decision.”

The Wilson Bowden scheme was first mooted in 2005 and has since halved in size and undergone radical changes before the latest plans were lodged.

Earlier in the day, opponents had staged protests outside Macclesfield town hall where the meeting was held. More than a dozen members of Wake Up Macc gathered and held up placards.

The main room was packed with around 60 members of the public and an audio link was set up allow 100 more to listen to the debate in a second room.

The plan will see five hectares of land – currently made up of car parks – transformed with the creation of a new multiplex cinema, cafe and restaurants as well as a new town square in front of the town’s heritage centre with a children’s play area.

The committee was told by planning officers, who recommended them for approval, that the proposals complied with all planning policies.