Mill Green: Bosses behind Cannock's designer outlet village pledge to invest £400k in the town
Bosses behind a huge shopping village in Cannock have vowed to invest nearly £400,000 to change the face of the town.
The money, from McArthurGlen who are behind the Mill Green project, would go on improving the town centre, expanding the railway station and creating a college.
The largest sum, £150,000, will be ploughed into town centre developments, such as providing free Wi-Fi, improving the market, as well as going towards festivals and promotional events.
Cannock Chase District Council deputy leader Gordon Alcott has revealed it will also be spent on paying for consultants to draw up a masterplan with a view to redeveloping the town centre in the future.
Cannock Railway Station will benefit from the next largest figure of £90,000 where the money will be spent on increasing the platform size to enable longer trains to pull in to the town.
A £65,000 injection has been earmarked for a Retail and Skills Academy in the town following the closure of South Staffordshire College’s Cannock campus last year.
The rest of the £370,300 pot will go towards maintaining Mill Green Nature Park – £32,300 – along with improving signage and felling and replanting trees – £28,000.
The final £5,000 has been set aside for an ‘Employment and Skills Plan’ outlining the recruitment strategy for the construction and operation of the retail shopping village.
Councillor Gordon Alcott said: “When we gave permission for Mill Green we said we would not forget about the town centre and the developers themselves said they would not forget about the town centre.”
The designer outlet village, formerly referred to as Mill Green, will feature more than 100 stores and employ more than 1,000 people. The first shops are due to open in Spring 2020.
