The secretary of state for housing, communities and local government has granted approval for the redevelopment of Marks & Spencer’s (M&S) Marble Arch store in London.
M&S submitted a planning application to redevelop the store in March 2021 and planning inspectors originally approved the retailer’s plans to knock down and rebuild on the site. However, in June 2022, the then secretary of state, Michael Gove, ordered a public inquiry into the proposals and in July 2023 he refused permission.
In his decision letter, Gove highlighted a number of concerns including the loss of heritage assets and the impact of the embodied carbon of the building.
M&S CEO Stuart Machin described Gove’s decision to refuse the company permission to demolish and rebuild its Oxford Street store as “nonsensical” and an act of “self-sabotage”.
In November 2023, M&S was granted permission by the High Court to apply for a judicial review of Gove’s decision to refuse planning permission and earlier this year M&S’s legal team told the High Court hearing the government had “misapplied” rules to block the development and argued Gove’s “unusual” decision should be quashed.
The High Court ruled that the former secretary of state’s decision to block M&S’s redevelopment plans for the store in London was unlawful and granted a judicial review of Gove’s decision to deny planning permission.
In reaching her conclusions on the heritage impacts of the proposal, the secretary of state for housing, communities and local government, Angela Rayner, said she agreed with the inspector’s report that there would be “no direct effect on designated heritage assets except nominally to the Portman Estate through demolition of the link building” and that “any harm would be from the impact of the development on the significance, or appreciation, of these assets derived from their settings”.
She also agreed with the inspector’s analysis that a refurbishment of the building would be so “deeply problematic” that “no one would be likely to pursue it or fund it”.
Responding to the news, M&S CEO Machin said: “I am delighted that, after three unnecessary years of delays, obfuscation and political posturing at its worst, under the previous government, our plans for Marble Arch – the only retail-led regeneration proposal on Oxford Street – have finally been approved. We can now get on with the job of helping to rejuvenate the UK’s premier shopping street through a flagship M&S store and office space, which will support 2,000 jobs and act as a global standard-bearer for sustainability.
“We share the government’s ambition to breathe life back into our cities and towns and are pleased to see they are serious about getting Britain building and growing. We will now move as fast as we can.”
Charles Begley, chief executive of the London Property Alliance, said: “I hope with this decision we can finally end the uncertainty which has acted as a drag on investment, damaging growth and the jobs that go with it. It is disappointing it has taken so long, which sends a negative message to those willing to invest in London and beyond.
“The government now needs to ensure that planning reform supports sustainable redevelopment, and whilst giving stronger guidance to local councils, needs to set itself strict timelines to deal with contentious decisions once it intervenes to prevent a repeat of this long running saga.
“The fact that the property industry had been waiting the outcome of this case for clarity is clearly a failure of national policy. The application itself had unfortunately become a lightning rod for the ‘retrofit v redevelopment’ debate, but we need to recognise that a more nuanced approach is needed and policy must allow and support a range of interventions on a case-by-case basis.”
Claire Fallows, partner at Charles Russell Speechlys, added: “With such politically charged factors at play, the decision has always been more about political messaging than it is about planning principles, ever since Gove rejected the scheme in 2023. A green light from Rayner is a strong political move: it seeks to frame Labour as a pro-business party willing to make controversial decisions to support retailers and rejuvenate the high street, amidst tough economic conditions for businesses.
“Heritage and environmental campaigners will no doubt protest the decision, but Labour has decided that potential harm caused by the development is clearly outweighed by public benefit, as the scheme will bring a brand-new retail hub with new office floorspace, driving regeneration in this part of Oxford Street and central London.
“This does not set a precedent for every scheme involving demolition and rebuild, as each must be considered on its facts. But this is a landmark decision indicative of a new era of decision making from the government on planning.”
Alistair Watson, UK head of planning and environment at Taylor Wessing, said: “To riff off one of the quotes from legendary football manager Bill Shankly – the trouble with some politicians is that they know the rules, but they do not know the game of planning. Secretary of state Gove didn’t get it. This secretary of state clearly does.
“The secretary of state’s decision to agree with the inspector’s recommendation and the High Court to provide a planning permission for M&S is as straightforward as it comes. This is a major development scheme which has a variety of economic, social and environmental benefits, all of which were backed up with expert evidence in a full public inquiry. Logic and common sense have prevailed over political ideology. The planning system at its best.
“The downside is that we have had to wait this long, and in the meantime, the wider real estate development industry has had to sit patiently, and watch opportunities go by until we got some certainty from the secretary of state on matters such as embedded carbon.”
Stephen Springham, head of UK markets at Knight Frank, said: “This decision provides the greater certainty around the retrofit versus rebuild debate that the industry has been crying out for. It was clearcut that M&S had proven that, using whole life cycle modelling for numerous retrofit and rebuild scenarios, redevelopment is the most sustainable long-term option for this particular site.
“Taken in conjunction with new guidance at local authority and regional level on when it is appropriate to permit demolition, we are starting to gain a better understanding of the grounds upon which future decisions will be taken. Consistency is vital for the UK’s economic recovery and inward investment. Knight Frank and the wider property industry are calling for the national planning policy to mirror guidance that has been provided by The London Plan, The City of London and Camden and Westminster City Councils, when the revised policy is published later this year.”
