Marks & Spencer has launched a legal challenge against a government decision to block its plans to demolish and redevelop its store on London’s Oxford Street.
Michael Gove, the levelling up secretary, last month refused permission to redevelop the store near Marble Arch in the West End in a win for campaigners concerned about the carbon footprint of redevelopment.
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said Gove had refused permission after disagreeing with the recommendation from inspectors to approve the plans.
He said he had made the decision partly because it would “fail to support the transition to a low-carbon future, and would overall fail to encourage the reuse of existing resources, including the conversion of existing buildings”.
Sacha Berendji, operations director at M&S, said: “Today we have launched a legal challenge against the government’s decision to reject our Marble Arch store proposal.
“We have done this because we believe the secretary of state wrongly interpreted and applied planning policy, to justify his rejection of our scheme on grounds of heritage and environmental concerns.
“It is hugely disappointing that after two years of support and approvals at every stage, we have been forced to take legal action to overcome a misguided agenda against our scheme, and we will be challenging this to the fullest extent possible.”
Stuart Machin, the chief executive of M&S, has previously said the decision left the retailer with “no choice but to review its future position” on the UK’s premier high street “on the whim of one man”.
The row over the fate of the store, one of two that M&S has on Oxford Street, has become a cause célèbre in a clash over the carbon footprint of redeveloping buildings during the climate crisis and the fate of Britain’s high streets.
In June 2022, Gove ordered a public inquiry into the plan to demolish and rebuild the store, with prize-winning architects, academics, heritage campaigners and the author Bill Bryson voicing opposition to the retailer’s plans.
Meanwhile, there has been difficulty filling empty sites on Oxford Street, including ones left by two other department stores – the former House of Fraser and Debenhams, which have closed and are in the process of redevelopment without complete rebuilding.
