M&S will kick off its High Court challenge over the blocking of its Marble Arch flagship redevelopment tomorrow (Tuesday).
The retailer’s operations director Sacha Berendji has accused communities secretary Michael Gove of “misinterpreting” and wrongly applying the planning policy in his previous decision to turn down its plans on heritage and environmental grounds.
M&S chief executive Stuart Machin branded Gove’s decision as a “utterly pathetic” and a “shortsighted act of self-sabotage” last year, adding that the ruling meant he must now review the future of its Marble Arch store.
The retailer’s redevelopment plans involved demolishing the three buildings it occupies to make way for a new 10-storey building, which included a new store and an office block.
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M&S claimed the greater energy efficiency from the new building would offset the carbon produced from a rebuild.
Berendji said: “We will set out our case for why the secretary of state’s decision to block our proposed redevelopment of our Marble Arch site – which ignored advice from the independent planning inspector and support from Westminster city council, the London mayor and Greater London Authority – misinterpreted and wrongly applied planning policy, with every one of the six counts we raised approved by the Court to proceed to this hearing.
“When our proposal to bring one of London’s most sustainable and energy efficient buildings into the heart of the West End is rejected and other schemes with lower sustainability benefits are going ahead, it makes it impossible for developers to interpret planning policy, freezing investment and leading many to ask ‘why bother’, which is a disaster for the economy and the transition to net zero.”
M&S was previously given the green light for the redevelopment from Westminster council in 2021.
However, it was overturned by Gove in August last year.
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