General election delays Marks & Spencer’s flagship store again

Marks & Spencer will have to wait months for a decision on plans for its London flagship store after the general election caused further delays.

The High Street retailer wants to demolish and rebuild its Oxford Street store and said last month it hoped ministers would approve its plans “very, very soon”.

But the July 4 elections mean the decision may not come until months after a new government takes office.

It comes as the Mail can reveal that Michael Gove’s Department for Leveling Up, Housing and Communities has spent £141,000 of taxpayers’ money on the planning row. That’s the amount spent on legal fees in the dispute since last year, according to a Freedom of Information disclosure.

M&S claims the store will breathe new life into Oxford Street, which is plagued by tacky sweet shops. It wants permission to demolish the 1929 Art Deco building near Marble Arch in London and build a larger 10-storey retail and office building. But it is locked in a battle with Gove, who blocked the plans.

M&S boss Stuart Machin has branded Gove’s decision as ‘completely pathetic’. He accused him of ‘an anti-business approach, which is slowing growth and depriving Oxford Street of thousands of new quality jobs’.

Machin won a victory in March when Judge Mrs Justice Lieven at the High Court concluded that Gove had made a series of errors in his interpretation and application of planning policy.

The redevelopment was supported by companies such as Selfridges department store and furniture chain Ikea.

A spokesperson for M&S said the plan would ‘provide a much-needed boost to Oxford Street and send a clear message to developers that regeneration of our towns and cities is a clear priority’.