Cheshire East Council didn't get a penny of the government's levelling-up fund.

They made three bids to then-Boris Johnson's government, including one to particularly benefit Macclesfield.

This included improvements to public space in Macclesfield town centre, taking in Chestergate, Market Place, Exchange Street and Mill Street.

The project – which was supported by MP David Rutley, Macclesfield Town Council, Grosvenor Centre owners Eskmuir and Make It Macclesfield – would have claimed to 'transform the look of the area and focus on the pedestrian, rather than the vehicle'. 

The bid would have seen Macclesfield town centre become more friendly to walkers than car users. Any potential multi-million pedestrian projects now seem unlikely with Thursday's bid rejection news. (Image - Alexander Greensmith / Macclesfield Nub News)

It would have seen pavements widened to create more scope for existing and new cafes, bars and restaurants to have al fresco seating areas, encourage more people to cycle into the town centre, and include adding more greenery and improving street furniture.

However, last Thursday Rishi Sunak's government opted to support other projects instead.

Now, Cheshire East Council and Macclesfield politicians have responded to the news.

Councillor Nick Mannion, chair of Cheshire East Council's economy and growth committee, said: "Naturally, we are extremely disappointed at the news that we were unsuccessful with the three bids we put forward for Levelling Up Fund support.

The Cheshire East Council logo on a bus stop on Chester Road in Macclesfield. (Image - Alexander Greensmith / Macclesfield Nub News)

"We put forward three outstanding bids, however I was always conscious that the government had to prioritise authorities based on need, and that Cheshire East was unfortunately classified as a 'category three' authority – the lowest need classification for this Levelling Up funding.

"The fund was hugely oversubscribed with 529 bids submitted and almost 80 per cent of areas unsuccessful - so the vast majority of bidders will have been disappointed.

"As a category three area, with so many submissions from category one and two areas, we were up against tough competition. To put this into context, only a handful of bids were successful in category three areas across England, Scotland and Wales.

"We will continue to look for appropriate funding opportunities, but we need to bear in mind that preparing bids for funding in a competitive environment takes resources.

An empty bar on Church Street in Macclesfield. (Image - Alexander Greensmith / Macclesfield Nub News)

"The council does have to weigh up the costs of preparing bids against the likelihood of success and in this case, we would need to bear in mind the limited number of bids for category three areas, which were successful in round two when considering whether to submit a bid in any future rounds of this particular over-subscribed fund.

"We will continue to look for funding opportunities for these schemes and I would like to put on record my thanks to the officers who worked extremely hard to present our three excellent submissions."

Macclesfield MP David Rutley did not respond to comment.

Macclesfield Town Council did not respond to comment.

Macclesfield shot from Green Street. (Image - Alexander Greensmith / Macclesfield Nub News)

The Prime Minister faced criticism in the national media from favouring south east England in the levelling up fund, as opposed to the north.

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