The project, earmarked for a 300-acre site east of the A34 and south of A555, includes 1,500 new homes, new employment space, a village centre, extra care accommodation, a new school, a community hub and green space.
Last night (Tuesday) the economy and growth committee was told Cheshire East had entered into an exclusivity agreement in August with the MADE Partnership, which comprises Homes England, the government’s housing and regeneration agency for England; Lloyds Banking Group; and housebuilder Barratt Redrow PLC.
This had been approved by the committee at an earlier meeting after it was acknowledged the council didn’t have the funds or expertise to deliver the scheme on its own.
Charles Jarvis, the council’s head of economic development, told last night’s meeting: “As part of their due diligence, MADE are actually making excellent progress in terms of both examining the project and making suggestions about how that project can be improved.
“A key element of that… demonstrates a change in the land use budget, or master plan for the sites, and their suggestions to make the site both more marketable and liveable and therefore provide, hopefully, a greater receipt for the council and MADE themselves.”
The committee last night agreed, among a number of recommendations, to approve revisions to the initial preparation infrastructure works contract and to amend the scope and phasing of the existing preliminary design work to reflect changes to the delivery strategy.
A report to the committee stated that before entering into the exclusivity period with MADE, the council had prioritised investment in core site infrastructure, including new road access from the A34, the establishment of a ‘High Street’, provision of a school site, and the principal elements of green infrastructure.
The broader site infrastructure was to be delivered incrementally by third parties as individual parcels of land were sold to housing developers.
It continued: “In contrast, MADE proposes to deliver substantial elements of the road and service infrastructure across the site upfront, creating fully serviced land parcels along with supporting strategic green infrastructure.”
Cllr Fiona Wilson (Macclesfield, Lab) said it was encouraging to see the council involved in such a project as the Handforth Garden Village.
“This is an excellent development that’s going to provide much needed homes,” she said.
Seven councillors voted in favour of the recommendations and four abstained.
Comments are closed.