M&S Oxford Street: Not just any planning decision – a Michael Gove planning decision…

The decision by Michael Gove, the erratic and unpredictable secretary of state for levelling-up, housing and communities, to reject Marks & Spencer’s plans to redevelop the company’s flagship store near Marble Arch on Oxford Street – a decision which was taken against the advice of the local planning team, Westminster Council and City Hall – is both bizarre and illogical.

In a world where high streets are being abandoned in their droves by retailers, it looks as though M&S may now have little choice but to up-sticks and move from the site, leaving an empty building which few will want due to the onerous demands placed on any new occupier by Gove to refurbish the property. It is another hole punched in the retail fabric of the nation’s capital…

I have long argued that the government should pour greater funding and resources into retrofit and refurbishment, so Gove is preaching to the choir with his stated objective to de-carbonise ageing  property units as far as I am concerned. However rejecting the M&S proposal and taking on – rather than working with – retailers, developers and funders is undoubtedly counter-productive. 

My fear is that this decision was merely a PR exercise by a Tory government to disguise the fact that it has done little to encourage the wider adoption of retrofitting

In this case, the retailer wanted to replace the original Art Deco building with a 10-storey department store and office block and believed that the current building was “failing”. The firm had examined many alternatives, including retrofit which was considered too costly. However, environmental and heritage campaigners argued that the 1929 building should instead be refurbished and restored, and these views, in spite of their impracticality, have now been supported by the secretary of state.

My fear is that this decision was merely a PR exercise from a Conservative government that was designed to disguise the fact that it has done little to encourage the wider adoption of retrofitting, and has failed to incentivise home owners to insulate their houses in order to reduce carbon. It has also cut subsidies for solar while opposing planning for other renewable electricity generating options at a local level.

In other words, we are receiving some mixed messaging, and the M&S decision seems to be more inspired by a political dynamic than any sort of serious attempt to reduce the embedded carbon within old buildings.

Some might say that this is just a London issue and, for the rest of the country, it is irrelevant,  but they should think again. Much of Liverpool, Birmingham, Manchester, Bristol and Newcastle – to name just a few major UK cities – had their property built by the mercantile business class during the industrial revolution and the following Victorian era. They were not too worried about carbon sequestration and net zero at that time and left us with a swathe of buildings no longer fit for purpose.

Gove’s decision on Marble Arch is likely to set a precedent, meaning that planning will become even more of a nightmare and leading to the further deterioration of town centres. Even if plans are approved at a local level, developers and retailers will now be uncertain whether the secretary of state might over-rule them.

So they may as well close down older property units that are expensive to run and move elsewhere, leaving dozens of large, empty, moribund buildings standing sadly on our high streets. No one will be refurbishing or retrofitting these eyesore units.

Many of his recent planning decisions appear bizarre, ill-considered and more grounded in a desire to provoke the Labour opposition than to improve the built environment

Gove has had a roller-coaster political career over the past decade and one cannot but feel that he is now in the twilight period of his professional life. It may be that he is facing either a long period in opposition or a return to journalism following the next election, if the polls are to be believed.

In that context, many of his recent planning decisions appear to be bizarre, ill-considered and more grounded in a desire to provoke the Labour opposition than to improve the built environment. If he is not careful, his only legacy will be to deliver chaos and confusion to the detriment of the UK high street.

Richard Steer is chairman of Gleeds Worldwide