REDEVELOPMENT of Macclesfield town centre will not begin until 2013 at the earliest because of the recession.
Cheshire East Council and Wilson Bowden Developments have ditched the £200m mixed retail masterplan submitted last November and originally earmarked for completion in October 2011.
Instead, the council is proposing to combine the scheme with a new football stadium – revealed in the Express a fortnight ago – the redevelopment of south Macclesfield and a revitalised cultural quarter.
This ambitious plan, revealed in a new report to CEC cabinet members, includes rebranding Macclesfield as the ‘Silk Town’ and pushing again for a national Silk Museum involving the Heritage Centre.
At a cabinet meeting which approved the plans, council leader Wesley Fitzgerald said: "One thing you can say about Macclesfield town centre is that we have marched up the hill and down again almost twice and we have learnt an awful lot about how not to do it and how to get it right. It isn't a modernisation of Macclesfield but a refurbishment of all that is good from the past."
They could only do that if the public was helped to genuinely express their views, he added.
Councillor Paul Findlow said Macclesfield’s history and heritage were unique and needed to be at the centre of the new development, adding that people had previously felt ‘alienated’ because they did not feel they were being consulted.
A new timetable for redevelopment is due in the new year, but no work is expected to start before 2013.
An extra £150K, from CEC reserves, will be spent on external consultancy, expertise and advice on how to develop what is seen as a five to ten year plan to redevelop the town centre and South Macclesfield Development Area (SMDA).
Macclesfield Town Coun David Neilson said he welcomed the new project as it would include areas like Park Green and the Heritage Centre on the periphery of the town centre.
The report, entitled ‘Future Development of Macclesfield’, calls for Macclesfield to play a bigger role in the Manchester city region and states: "In light of the economic downturn it is difficult to predict when the redevelopment of the town centre will take place.
"The impact of the recession has had a major impact on the type of scheme that Wilson Bowden are now proposing to bring forward and the potential timescales for development.
"Whilst this is disappointing in many ways, the delays, due to a depressed market, can prove to be of advantage to Cheshire East."
