The new owners of Alderley Park have revealed their plans for the 400 acres of parkland which was home to AstraZeneca's research and development facility, employing up to 10,000 people at its peak.
Bruntwood and Manchester Science Partnerships held a public exhibition on Wednesday, 21st October, as part of a community consultation on plans for the future development of Alderley Park.
The masterplan explained how they intend to develop Alderley Park into a world-class, centre of excellence for life sciences, as well as providing enhanced recreational, sports and leisure facilities and new homes for the area.
The vision for Alderley Park is described as 'Total Place' which combines employment opportunities with new housing as well as publicly accessible facilities, new sports and leisure opportunities and community access to over 170 acres of previously private parkland.
Most of Alderley Parks R&D assets are based around Mereside, therefore the owners are proposing to rationalise the existing complex for use by multiple businesses, create opportunities for the redevelopment of older buildings and the provision of up to 7000 highly skilled jobs.
Proposals for Mereside include around 45,000 sq m of new employment space, a new main street and event space, new and enhanced main entrance, a refurbished CBL building, new green spaces and the potential for future development which could include a multi-storey car park.
South Campus has been identified as an area for mixed use to help support the development of the Life Science Park. To cover the costs of dividing up and re-purposing buildings, replacing building stock, refurbishment and ongoing overheads they are proposing to build 275 homes on this part of the site. The level of affordable housing to be provided is still being considered, there may be options for on and off-site provision, including potential key worker housing.
The new residential development would include a mixture of house types with homes clustered around courtyards, within the existing walled gardens.
Other proposals for the South Campus include complimentary amenities such as a farm shop, restaurant, hotel and sports facilities and community facilities such as a creche, nursery and a pub.
Recreational uses for the site could include new walking, running and cycle routes and informal outdoor spaces such as outdoor gyms, trim trails and fitness stations.
Some of the existing sports facilities will need to relocated so new facilities will be provided which will be publicly accessible to the wider community. These include a full sized football pitch and three tennis courts as well as a replacement indoor sports hall, dance studios, courts, changing facilities, a fitness studio, spin studio, cafe and 2000 m2 spa. Along with a new parking area.
The full sized cricket pitch will be retained with a new artificial wicket square, new cricket cages and general training spaces. A junior pitch will also be provided and the existing clubhouse and pavilion with be retained with a new parking area and a large grassed recreational area.
A spokesperson fro Bruntwood/MSP said "We believe our proposals will help secure the future of Alderley Park as a world-class Life Science facility. In doing so, we believe that this can provide a number of significant benefits for local residents and the area."
Access to Alderley Park would remain from Congleton Road.
You can view the proposals and comment online at www.alderleyparkconsultation.co.uk.
Bruntwood and Manchester Science Partnerships will then consider all the feedback and incorporate it into their proposals where possible.
An outline planning application will be prepared for Alderley Park and submitted to Cheshire East Council in the coming weeks.
Comments
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To be frank, no doubt a ... local developer... would be able to fling one up to order?
What a fantastic opportunity for the area and a fabulous vision; however, the local infrastructure needs to keep up. Jon points at the local schools which last time I checked were all over subscribed (public and private). Have the doctors been consulted to see if they can take an extra 500+ people? Likewise, what a fabulous opportunity for a Park and Ride into the village so no more parking is needed – we certainly don’t have space for an extra 500 cars.
I think the addition of the Sports facility is a great move as there are fantastic sports & spa facilities around but in Hale, Cheadle and surrounding areas, nothing local.
Admittedly, this development is on a much larger scale (they are building 3,000 new homes), but they have taken infrastructure into consideration in their Masterplan. They are building new schools, a shopping centre, a care home, a community centre, and a hotel, as well as sports and recreational facilities. They have also taken transport planning and sustainability into consideration.
A school for a development on the scale proposed at Alderley Park would be an essential part of the Masterplan, I would think. Or perhaps more than one. I suspect, as one of the largest state secondary schools in the country, Wilmslow High is already at capacity. And, as previous contributors have already mentioned the local private schools are also oversubscribed. Given that the 7,000 'highly skilled' employees are likely to have families, I don't see how a school can not be included in the Masterplan.