Cheshire East Council has approved plans for 47 apartments and two retail units to be built on the site of the derelict Old Kings Head pub on Chestergate in Macclesfield town centre.
Plans will see the existing structures on the site demolished, with a four-storey apartment building built in their place on the plot between Chestergate, King Edward Street, Little Street and Churchill Way. Plans originally proposed a fifth storey and additional seven dwellings, but were scaled down in response to local objections.
Developers, IDCB Properties, have proposed the scheme will comprise 23 one-bedroom units and 24 two-bedroom units (including two affordable rent properties) and 25 parking spaces, and cycle parking for 70 bikes. On the ground floor on the Chestergate frontage, two large retail/commercial units have been proposed, with floor areas of 166.4 sqm and 174.6 sqm respectively. A previous residential scheme had been approved for the site 2008, but only partial demolition works took place and planning permissions lapsed, allowing the site to fall into further dereliction.
While the existing structures on the site are not listed buildings, the scheme sits within the Macclesfield Town Centre Conservation area and has been designed by Four Architects to be in-keeping with its surrounds. On approving the scheme, councillors on Cheshire East’s planning committee agreed with planning officers that conditions be put in place that further details be provided about materials used on the construction.
Councillors also went beyond the recommendation of planning offers to impose a further condition on the scheme that it include and utilise renewable energy sources to reduce its carbon footprint.