Ask Real Estate wins contract to build leisure scheme in Macclesfield

Ask Real Estate has won the contract to develop a cinema and retail park in Macclesfield.

Cheshire East Council has agreed to sell the Churchill Way car park in the town centre to the Manchester city centre developer to build a six-screen cinema, restaurants, a retail unit and a café.

The scheme is expected to cost around £15m and create 175 jobs.

Councillor Don Stockton, Cheshire East Cabinet member in charge of regeneration, said: “I am delighted that we are a significant step closer to delivering on our promise to the people of Macclesfield.

“We have said that we will regenerate the town and increase footfall for the benefit of retailers and businesses and this is the start of that process.

“The council remains fully committed to this journey and we will continue to drive forward a strategy to enhance the economic, environmental and social well-being of the town centre.”

The scheme will be subject to the normal planning process, which will start once contracts are exchanged.

Nick Hynes, chair of the Macclesfield Town Centre Vision Stakeholder Panel, said: “I am delighted that we have managed to attract a developer who has put forward a viable and imaginative scheme for the Churchill Way site.

“We had a really healthy level of interest from the development industry and I was impressed by the quality of a number of the submissions. I’d like to thank all those parties involved.

“All this has been achieved over a very short time frame for a scheme of this nature and we are now in a position to press ahead with a much-needed project that will become a new and exciting part of the town centre offer.

“The marketing exercise has illustrated that there is significant demand among developers and leisure operators to locate in Macclesfield. We should grasp this opportunity with both hands.”

Cheshire East is pursuing a number of other regeneration initiatives in Macclesfield including improvements to the Gas Road underpass area, Middlewood Way, Sparrow Park, and shop fronts on Lower Mill Street.