Cheshire East to explore MADE Partnership JV for Handforth Garden Village
The local authority will look into working with the consortium, made up of Barratt Redrow, Homes England and Lloyds Banking Group, as master developer.
Members of Cheshire East’s economy & growth committee will examine the prospects for a partnership from the council side, as it looks to deliver on a masterplan of 1,500+ homes. Handforth Garden Village is allocated in the council’s Local Plan.
The project, given outline approval in 2023, also includes a new school, along with employment space and a village centre, along with extra care accommodation, a community hub and accessible green space.
MADE Partnership was launched in September last year, with an initial £150m of equity provided equally by its partners. The partnership’s mission is to be master developer on schemes of 1,000 to 10,000 homes.
If a joint venture is formed, it means the council and MADE Partnership would work together on all aspects of the Handforth Garden Village until the scheme is delivered in full.
Cllr Michael Gorman, deputy leader of Cheshire East Council and chair of its economy and growth committee, said: “The Handforth Garden Village is a complex and ambitious scheme, and is not without challenges – as you would expect with any development of this scale.
“While much more consideration is needed before an agreement is made, it is hugely positive that MADE Partnership recognises the value and importance of this scheme and is willing to work with us to explore a joint venture, which would unlock many opportunities to access further resource, expertise, and funding.
“The decision made by the economy and growth committee is a key step in the journey to realise our plans, which once delivered will provide much-needed homes and help meet new housing targets set by government.”
A final decision on whether to form a joint venture with MADE Partnership will be subject to a further committee decision at a later date.
Stephen Kinsella, board member for MADE Partnership, said: “We are delighted to be working with Cheshire East Council on such an ambitious project.
“Our amenity-led, placemaking focussed approach to delivery will ensure Handforth Garden Village becomes a place of outstanding quality that will drive economic prosperity and become home to a thriving new community within the borough.”
Cheshire East has secured Housing Infrastructure Fund support from Homes England to support the development’s upfront infrastructure, including creating a road network to enable development parcels to be accessed and the village centre to be created.
The council is the site’s majority landowner.
Is MADE the only master developer with the vision skills and capital to deliver. I believe there are others with track record too. Public procurement? Has the proposed Engine of the North gone kaput or did they find they had no fuel
By Anonymous
Great, more Redrow houses. Already building over 800 just down the road at Woodford. So much for diversity in development!
By Anonymous
So another large PLC gets all the land, what happened to supporting SME housebuilders?
By Anonymous
how long does it take to get on site ? Sell a package and open the site up with infrastructure from the proceeds
By TJL
It’s great to see all these homes being built in a desirable location, I just hope they expand Handforth Dean to the north with several new shops and outlets to help support the new population.
By MC
There’s a nice bit of biodiverse meadow, scrub and ponds towards the west of the site, which stands out from the sterile farmland. Hopefully they can retain at least some of this as green infrastructure for recreation and biodiversity, making a nice place to live rather than cramming as many copy and paste houses into as small a space as possible.
By Green spaces
How would you get from the ‘garden village’ to the district centre? Looks like there’s no through route planned.
By WayFay
Well the London to Manchester railway line is in the way..I live there and only route is through a dodgy tunnel of Spath lane..Going to be chaos with all developments in our area and South Manchester.
By Patrick
What does this mean… Our amenity-led, placemaking focussed approach to delivery will ensure Handforth Garden Village becomes a place of outstanding quality that will drive economic prosperity and become home to a thriving new community within the borough.”
By Steve
So why keep building by passes, then building all round them. Defeats the whole idea of a by pass. Handforth town centre is now a rat run and congested as it is.
By Clive byrne
As a local resident I along with thousands of others we don’t want this development. Green fields should be protected. Our roads are already clogged with traffic and the last thing we need is thousands of other people and cars. It’s appropriate to say NO!!!
Also when the A555 was built they dumped all of the soil,mud and clay either side of Dairyhouse Lane ruining this land which has been like a wet sponge ever since. Build houses on that and they will sink. I used to work there and have walked on the 50 foot mud piles now grassed over.
By Robert White
Walked around the public foot paths here yesterday counted 117 oak and other trees, will MADE be putting them in the tree museum
By Anonymous
Where in the plan is the Health Centre?
By Anonymous
A ‘Garden Village’ by copy & paste Barratts hutches? You’re having a laugh! Get some diversity in builders and design to build something interesting.
By Anonymous
To many traffic jams in cheadle hulme and on bypass already misery to come
By Anonymous
I never thought I would turn into a NIMBY but this development is a step too far. Our area is slowly being destroyed by covering more and more of our green spaces with bricks and tarmac. Enough! Why are developers not made to use brownfield sites first? And don’t get me started on empty shops and newly built offices / warehouse space standing unused!
By Anonymous
A other abhorrent development?
By Dan979
Doctors, dentist, type of schools, public transport???
How is this massive housing area going to be served by the services needed for 30000 people. The infrastructure surrounding the site struggles to cope already!!?
By Dave Eyre
Any chance of turning one of the more affluent towns into traffic chaos? Handforth is already a nightmare. We’ve already built our fair share of houses, time for some of the wealthier areas to step up. Our corner of Cheshire is taking one of the highest proportion of new homes. Any chance of some infrastructure to go with it? We lost a primary school, no guarantee of high school places, the GP isn’t fit for purpose and we get sent miles, we have some of the worst pot holes.
By Handforth resident
Now we know why ordinary planning applications are taking so long to determine .
By Richard I Palfreyman
More sub par car dependent dreck
By Anonymous
It’s such a shame there will be no green land left apart from what is owned by the farmer in Handforth
By James Wilson
All these proposed amenities associated with the site sound good but I am extremely concerned about the congestion on local roads which are already over run, especially at peak times, and also at the loss of precious green space for wildlife and open countryside for local people to walk and improve their mental health.
By S Bowker