Chester Northgate regeneration: Council agree potential £13.2m spend

Council leader Samantha Dixon said the Northgate plan carried "considerable risk"

The next stage of a Chester city centre redevelopment will be funded by the local council if a private investor cannot be found, it has been decided.

The planned £300m Northgate scheme will see new shops, restaurants, a cinema, market and hotel.

Cheshire West and Chester councillors approved spending a further £13.2m on the scheme on Thursday, taking the council's total investment to £56.9m.

Council leader Samantha Dixon said the plan carried "considerable risk".

The further funding will go towards the building stage of the project, which is yet to begin.

'Shared aim'

A council report said "progress" needed to be made on agreeing leases with shops and restaurants before a potential investor would "seriously considering funding the scheme".

It said the number of tenants signed up for the development was slightly behind expectations, due to "increased caution in the market nationally", but added one restaurant operator had reached a full agreement to open an outlet and council officials were in early negotiations with three others and four "major retailers".

High street retailer House of Fraser and Picturehouse cinemas have both signed unconditional agreements to become tenants and the report said a "significant majority" of the city's market traders would relocate to the new indoor market, despite concerns over rent prices.

Ms Dixon told a meeting of the Labour-led council that Northgate was "not a project without considerable risk, but perhaps the most significant risk of all is... the political risk if we do not progress towards this shared aim together".

Cheshire West and Chester councillors voted unanimously to approve the further spending.

Conservative councillor Stuart Parker said the plan raised "financial risk challenges", but "the risks outlined are worth taking".