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All change once again
Secret changes to town centre
EXCLUSIVE by Chris Hudson5/ 3/2008
A COUNCILLOR is demanding that secret proposals to change the £250m facelift of Macclesfield town centre should be made public immediately.
Redevelopers presented plans to councillors last week and it’s claimed that they ‘substantially alter the entire concept’ of the development.
It is also claimed the redevelopers attended a Civic Society meeting – just hours later – and neglected to mention the changes. It is believed that Debenhams, the cinema, and the community centre, will be repositioned under the new proposals.
Councillor James Nicholas wants the alterations to be given proper scrutiny so that property owners and small businesses in Macclesfield town centre can plan for their future.
The behind-closed-doors town centre panel meeting last Wednesday had a confidentiality clause, which meant councillors cannot report on commercially sensitive details, but Coun James Nicholas wants the information put straight into the public arena.
In a letter to MBC, he said: "In my view the radical new changes proposed by Wilson Bowden are totally unacceptable and substantially alter the entire concept of the town centre redevelopment. These proposed changes should not come under the banner of ‘confidential’ and must be made available to the public immediately."
Speaking to the Express he said: "At the Civic Society meeting that same evening I couldn’t believe what I was hearing from the developers. They never even referred to any thought of changes."
Wilson Bowden wheeled out their big guns of architects and managers on February 27 to address the Town Centre Redevelopment Panel, which is made up of six MBC councillors, to outline the changes to the existing plans.
Then the same developers attended a Civic Society meeting at the Heritage Centre hours later and, it is claimed, told a packed hall that the plans were still the same.
An MBC spokesman said that the new plans were "just a proposal put to the panel", they were confidential and this was the reason nothing was mentioned to the Civic Society.
He added that Debenhams and the cinema would still be in included in the plans but had "moved slightly" from the original plan, and one of the community centre ideas would be to site it not as close to the Heritage Centre.
Jeff Coghlan of Matmi Media Design in the Dukes Court, which was earmarked for destruction in the original plans, said: "I am behind Coun Nicholas 100 per cent. It should all be made public. There are certain financial things that should not be, but this is about the town centre for the people who live here."
Boss of Olympus Trophies on Duke Street, Sam Baker, whose shop will be affected by the redevelopment, wasn’t surprised that the plans might have changed.
He said: "The community centre has changed places more than once – a development of this size needs compromise. I have made suggestions to the original plans which have been listened to. Macclesfield needed this development in 1978 – it’s a good thing for the town."
No-one from the Civic Society was available for comment at time of going to press. The Town Centre Panel asked for more information before they make a decision on the new proposals next month.
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10/03/2008 at 10:18
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The Rochdale Observer newspaper website has some very choice comments on it.
And guess who has just been picked to do the work? Wilson Bowden. Good luck Rochdale, you will need it.
10/03/2008 at 12:45