Cheshire East is considering working in partnership with a master developer to help fund and provide the necessary expertise to deliver the Handforth Garden Village.

The scheme, 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.

The council, which owns approximately 70 per cent of the site, is the master developer and says significant progress has been made towards delivery of scheme over the past 12 months.

But a report from council officers to next week's meeting of the economy and growth committee states 'significant challenges remain', including funding and lack of expertise within the authority to deliver the project.

They suggest one way to overcome this would be to work with MADE Partnership, to explore the potential of forming a joint venture for the master developer role.

The MADE Partnership comprises Homes England, the government's housing and regeneration agency for England; Lloyds Banking Group; and housebuilder Barratt Redrow PLC.

The report states: "Working with MADE Partnership could therefore open a wealth of opportunities to access resource, expertise, and funding.

"MADE Partnership have offered to thoroughly explore the option of such a joint venture and will bear the costs of due diligence, provided the council enters into an exclusivity agreement whilst that work is ongoing.

"During the exclusivity period, MADE Partnership, supported by council officers, would work on the feasibility of a joint venture, whilst also working to ensure key workstreams vital for delivery are progressed.

"This would include continuing to work on progressing the initial preparation and infrastructure works, design and planning strategy."

It said at the end of the exclusivity period, officers would return to the committee with a recommendation as to whether the council should proceed with a joint venture with MADE Partnership and on what basis, or alternatively explore other delivery routes.

The report states the costs of delivering the Handforth Garden Village have significantly increased because of inflation and programme complexity.

The team of council officers working on it is small and some are also working on other projects and have other responsibilities.

It adds: "The scope and scale of work required for the delivery of the garden village far exceeds what can be provided by this small internal team.

"No one in the in-house team has experience of acting in the capacity of master developer for a complex development of this nature."

Councillors are being asked to approve Cheshire East entering into an exclusivity agreement with MADE Partnership to explore the principle of forming a joint venture partnership that would lead the development of Handforth Garden Village.

A further report would then be brought back to the economy and growth committee for a decision as to whether the council should proceed to enter into a joint venture with MADE Partnership.

The economy and growth committee meeting takes place at 2pm on Tuesday 11 March, at Macclesfield Town Hall.

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