A Macclesfield business director has reacted to Cheshire East Council's changes to a car park near his business.

Jordan Wilson, of Cinemac, has responded to Cheshire East Council's changes to the Exchange Street Car Park, also known colloquially by residents as Tesco's car park.

On July 8, prices at car parks changed all across Macclesfield. And Exchange Street changed to a short stay.

In a candid Facebook post with over 600 engagements, he wrote on the Cinemac Facebook page: "It is now only available for two-hours at a time."

The new prices.

"If you're planning on coming to Despicable Me 4, this won't be an issue as the film will run for 1h 40m. Giving you enough time to park, enjoy the film and get back to your car within the time frame. Parking is still free after 6pm.

"We're appalled at this decision by Cheshire East. Like many other businesses, our customers depend on that car park, especially families and people with mobility issues.

"This move by Cheshire East continues to deter people away from Macclesfield and hinders the growth of the town and the amazing businesses that operate here.

"Anything positive that happens in Macclesfield doesn't come from the Council, it comes from independent business and committees that spend countless hours preparing things like: Macc Pride, Macc-Pow, Choose Macc Festival and the Treacle Market to name just a few.

New prices for Cheshire-East owned car parks across Macclesfield.

"We have contacted Cheshire East to try and make them reverse this decision."

Cinemac has operated since 2005, with Jordan running it since 2017. It is Macclesfield's only cinema.

For comparison, nearby cinema The Light in Stockport has free parking for customers of the cinema.

This is a luxury Jordan cannot enjoy, as Cheshire East Council, who own the carpark have no direct relationship with Cinemac.

The Exchange Street Car Park has 107 spaces.

In response to Cinemac's Facebook post, Macclesfield Nub News reached out to Cheshire East Council for comment.

Councillor Mark Goldsmith, chair of Cheshire East Council's highways and transport committee, said: "A six-week public consultation on proposals for parking arrangements in Cheshire East was held between 20 September and 1 November 2023.

"In January this year, having considered the feedback from the consultation – which resulted in some key changes to the original proposals – the council's highways committee approved the recommendations. 

"One of these was to alter Exchange Street car park in Macclesfield to provide short-stay customer parking for the adjacent food retailers. It is currently free to park at this car park after 6pm and on Sundays."

Pictured when Exchange Street Car Park used to be long stay.

Cllr Goldsmith added: "During the public consultation, there were no specific challenges to this intended change on Exchange Street. A similar proposal was made for parking next to Rex Cinema in Wilmslow, but this was altered following objections. 

"The situation with Exchange Street is different though as there are ready alternatives for long-stay parking at the nearby Duke Street and Churchill Way car parks."

Cinemac has also penned a letter to Tim Roca, the new Labour MP for Macclesfield on the matter.

Cinemac, of Roe Street.

An excerpt of it reads: "As a Cinema, we have been in operation since 2005 and have welcomed over 1 million people to watch a film with us since then. Our main audience is concessins (60+) and families."

"Cheshire East have changed the Car Parking rules for Exchange Street Car Park, reducing the maximum stay time to just 2 hours between the hours of 8am - 6pm.

"As I am sure you can appreciate, the average film runtime is around 1h 50m, this means that our guests will no longer be able to use this car park to enjoy films as they simply won't have enough time to park.

"Although there are other car parks our guests can use, our main customer base, as previously mentioned, are families and concession over 60. As you can imagine, many of these customers will find it difficult travelling longer distances, find it difficult to cross roads making our cinema difficult for them to access.

There are alternatives to the Cheshire East Car Parks near Cinemac, like this privately-owned Roe Street Car Park on the same street as Cinemac.

"One councillor, Nick Mannion has stated that there are several other car parks within a three minute walk of the cinema, but imagine you're suffering with a mobility issue & don't have a blue badge, or you're a single parent with multiple children to look after, a three minute walk becomes ten to 15 minutes, enough to deter them from coming to our cinema, or using other local businesses.

"Not only will this impact our admissions and our long term sustainability, it also poses an issue to other business operators within the town, not only do our customers use our venue when they come to visit, but many use the local restaurants, bars, pubs & cafés.

"With a restricted time frame, they may not use other local businesses or ours for that matter.

"I have been a resident in Macclesfield since birth and unfortunately have witnessed the stark contrast between Macclesfield under the stewardship of Cheshire East and it's own council, and putting it politely, it's much worse off now.

Cinemac has also recently started hosting live music.

"I, alongside thousands of other Macclesfield residents, believe Cheshire East to be causing the collapse of our town centre, through incredibly high business rates, expensive and restrictive parking and a lack of funding for the town, and that's just naming a few of the issues.

"I understand you will be incredibly busy within your transition period, but I urge you to please look into this, for Cinemac and every other independent business whose customers use that car park."

Cinemac has also recently started showing concerts and football.

For more information about parking your car in Cheshire East, please click HERE.