Barracks retail park on the market

Barracks Mill retail park has been put up for sale – with a price tag of £22,750,000.

Annual rental income from the retail park is £1.3m.

Barracks Mill retail park opened in 2022 and is currently home to Aldi, Marks and Spencer, Farmfoods, Costa Coffee, B&M Bargains and KFC.

The planning application for the site, resulted in a large number of protests – objectors claimed it would increase traffic and take shoppers away from Macclesfield town centre.

The protesters certainly had that right.

Cheshire East originally refused planning permission but the Planning Inspectorate overturned the decision on appeal.

Supporters of the retail park say it has created jobs, provided an economic boost to the town and regenerated a dilapidated site.

The reality is, like all retail parks, many more jobs are destroyed, with the closure of smaller town centre units, than are gained, access to out-of-town-centre storesis made much more difficult for those with limited mobility – and traffic has increased tenfold – along with increased energy consumption and pollution.

And in this age of online sales, it’s a brave person that would take on a retail park.