Castle Street Public Realm Works

Castle Street

Castle Street is a £1.6m project which has revitalised and transformed Macclesfield town centre. The public realm scheme saw footways widened and resurfaced with natural stone, granite cobblestone-style paving installed in the road, trees, new street furniture and improved lighting.

The Castle Street followed the council’s Macclesfield town centre strategic regeneration framework, which set out a vision for the town centre as a place which celebrates its quirkiness and provides the development sector with the confidence and certainty needed to bring forward investment, jobs and economic growth.

A unique feature of the works are the bespoke kerbstones incorporating extracts from the poem ‘A Love Letter To Macc’. This evocative and personal piece of community writing was created as a project for the town’s Barnaby Festival in 2016. It was produced by Jacqui Wood, artistic director of community arts organisation Arc, and compiled from words written by Macclesfield residents to celebrate everything they love about the town.

The wording selected for inclusion reads:

A Love Letter to Macc:

Drawn to you I fell in love straight away

With the proud landscape and culture of a silk town.

You were soon in my heart with your creative edge, passionate people and cobbled Streets nestling in the hills.

Here we've flourished, and cried, and grown, and lost.

And throughout it all, there's been you, constant: stone, and hills, and rain,

And brilliant, unexpected sun.

Businesses on Castle Street can apply for a temporary alfresco licence to put furniture on pedestrian parts of the adopted highway using our quick and simple process. You can apply for the free licence on the Pavement cafes page.

How do public realm improvements help to regenerate the town centre

High quality public realm, particularly in urban centres, can both help to increase town centre footfall, can help to draw in new residents and can help to sway decisions on business locations and investment.

Macclesfield town centre, like others across the country, is facing challenges as so many people turn to online services and retailing and out-of-town shopping destinations. We recognise that town centres need to adapt to remain vital and viable and we are committed to the revitalisation of Macclesfield town centre in a way that captures its heritage, creativity and innovation.

The public realm enhancement scheme has transformed a tired looking key town centre street, with the focus to be on the pedestrian, rather than the vehicle. In improving items such as narrowing the carriageway, widening the pavements and reducing street clutter, it naturally allows for the possibility of increasing alfresco activity and vibrancy to the area.