Cheadle eco business park plans set to move forward

Stockport Council is expected to progress with plans for a new eco business park in Cheadle, part of the Cheadle Town Fund.

Stockport Council’s Cabinet is expected to decide to begin the process of procuring a developer for the scheme when it meets on Thursday 28th June. Plans will see the Bird Hall Lane Industrial Estate, owned by the Council, redeveloped as a modern, environmentally sustainable business park to drive green economic growth in a borough.

Architects began drawing up plans for the scheme in Autumn 2021 for 110,000 sq ft industrial space, with designs including rooftop solar PV panels and air source heat pumps to provide low-carbon electricity and heating to properties. March’s Cabinet meeting under the Council’s previous administration green-lit for proposals to move forward to begin preparing a formal planning application for the scheme.

The £4.4 million scheme will be funded from a £13.9 million investment in Cheadle from the government’s Towns Fund, which is also supporting the construction of a new station for the district centre on the Manchester to Chester railway line, and other active travel improvements to the district centre.

The Cabinet have been recommended to begin moving forward with an initial market test of the design, before launching the formal procurement process, via the Council’s STAR Procurement platform, for delivering the development with the Council’s strategic property partners, CBRE.

Cheadle was among 100 towns across England invited to bid for a share of the £3.6 billion Towns Fund in September 2019. Following submission of an investment plan in November 2020, the town was awarded £13.9 million of the total £25 million bid to support development of the eco business park, new station and walking and cycling improvements.