Wilson Bowden lodges Macclesfield application

With shopping centre development grinding to a halt, developers are using the downturn to prepare the next generation of schemes. Wilson Bowden has just lodged an application for a 500,000-sq ft scheme in Macclesfield.

By Graham Parker, property editor

Barratt Developments subsidiary Wilson Bowden Developments has submitted an outline planning application for a £200 million redevelopment of Macclesfield town centre. The proposals for the 500,000-sq ft mixed-use development include an 80,000-sq ft department store, which is already pre-let to Debenhams.

Negotiations are also under way with an operator for a 30,000-sq ft, eight-screen multiplex cinema. In addition, the masterplan includes 50 retail and catering units, a 1,200-space multi storey car park and 55 residential units.

Wilson Bowden development manager Emma Newman said the design was the result of three years' consultation with Macclesfield Borough Council: “It has been a long journey to get us to this stage, but we are confident that this scheme will secure Macclesfield's future as the sub -regional shopping destination it should be,” she said.

Chris Wieszczycki, director of the scheme's architect, Engle, said: “This is an extension of the town centre, not just a 'shopping centre' and the clearly defined character areas will help to give the development an identity and preserve some of the finer aspects of the town's built form.”

A decision on the planning application is expected during spring 2009 it is anticipated that the entire development will be completed in 2014.

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