Plans have been unveiled for a multi-million pound designer outlet village at Cannock. If approved the Staffordshire scheme would house up to 130 shops and create hundreds of jobs.
The project — earmarked for a site next to Mill Green Nature Reserve in Cannock — has been proposed by joint venture partners Rioja Developments and Development Securities. It would be modelled on the 131-unit Bicester Village in Oxfordshire (pictured) which, in 2001, set a UK record for charging the highest rental for any comparable outlet shopping site.
Along with the shops, the development would include restaurants, a cinema and parking for up to 2,000 vehicles. Cannock Chase Council has already voiced its approval for the project and if planners agree the shopping village could be open by the spring of 2017.
“This council-owned site has enormous potential due to its strategic location and we hope the development can create a new, unique retail destination for the region providing a substantial economic boost to the area and putting Cannock Chase firmly on the map,” said council leader George Adamson. At 307,000sq ft it would be the biggest retail scheme in the county for decades.
The managing director at Rioja is Giles Membrey who said he was very excited to be looking at the possibility of a designer village for Cannock, “especially as we know that there is limited choice in terms of this type of destination in the region”.
“Our market research and site searches clearly show Mill Green is the best location in the West Midlands for our proposed scheme,” he added, “and this development will create hundreds of jobs and trigger a much-needed injection of inward investment in the area.”
Membrey said that Mill Green, when fully let, would rival Bicester and Cheshire Oaks and would be a “vital development for the West Midlands and not just Cannock”.
Established eight years ago, Rioja Developments has worked in partnership with some of the world’s leading blue chip companies on projects as varied as food stores, non-food retail, outlet centres, town centre retail projects and regeneration schemes.
Its recent projects have included large retail warehouse developments in the UK and a factory outlet development in Budapest. Rioja also has a number of partnership projects in the pipeline in the UK, France, Denmark, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Slovakia, the Ukraine and most recently in Brazil.
