An artist’s view of how a new M&S store could look

MICHAEL Gove has been labelled inconsistent and contradictory by a High Court judge who has ruled to overturn the minister’s decision to block the demolition of a flagship M&S store in Oxford Street.

The levelling up secretary of state called a halt last summer to the supermarket giant’s plans, which had originally been approved by Westminster City Council in 2021 and upheld the following year by a planning inspector.

At the time the minister said the scheme, which would see three blocks demolished and replaced with a nine-storey complex, was unnecessary as it was environmentally-damaging.

Marks and Spencer took the retrofit row to the High Court where on Friday Dame Nathalie, Mrs Justice Lieven, ruled Mr Gove had blocked the project incorrectly.

Her judgment said: “The Secretary of State has failed to explain why he has departed from the Inspector, and instead has just set out bald assertions of disagreement.”

She said the thinking behind his decision to block the demolition relied on building industry regulations that did not apply, and added: “It is important to make clear that this case is not about whether or not it would be appropriate or justified to have such a policy in the light of the climate emergency.

“The issue for the court is whether the SoS erred in law by misinterpreting the adopted London Plan.”

The M&S legal team had argued Mr Gove had incorrectly applied planning policies and had not properly weighed the public benefit against heritage considerations, the harm caused to Oxford Street’s economy, errors in calculating embodied carbon, and the impact on the famous Selfridges department store opposite.

The campaigning charity SAVE Britain’s Heritage, who had drawn up an alternative project, condemned the ruling. Their director Henrietta Billings said: “It represents another twist and turn in the long-running saga. Six years on M&S still don’t have a planning consent.

“By contrast, if from the beginning they had pursued a less environmentally damaging retrofit scheme they could have obtained planning consent quicker and could have completed the works and be receiving valuable rental income by now.

“In his decision, Gove sent a clear message that he wanted to use the NPPF [national planning policy framework] to highlight the need for repurposing and reusing buildings. The judge’s decision shows that the policy wording isn’t tight enough.

“The best way to remedy that is for the secretary of state to strengthen the NPPF in terms of sustainability. We urge him to do this without delay.

“This case has focused attention on the wasteful ‘knock it down and build again’ process that has dominated our construction sector for the last 100 years. We need a fresh, positive, approach to reusing historic buildings and saving precious resources.

“We urgently need a robust planning policy on retrofit that aligns with the government’s law on net-zero targets.”

M&S operations director Sacha Berendji said the judgment couldn’t be clearer: “The court has agreed with our arguments on five out of the six counts we brought forward and ruled that the secretary of state’s decision to block the redevelopment was unlawful.”

He added: “The result has been a long, unnecessary, and costly delay to the only retail-led regeneration on Oxford Street which would deliver one of London’s greenest buildings, create thousands of new jobs, and rejuvenate the capital’s premier shopping district.”

A department for levelling up, housing and communities spokesperson said: “We acknowledge the judgment and are considering our next steps. It would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage.”