Marks and Spencer Group PLC (LSE:MKS) has launched a legal challenge to Michael Gove’s decision last month to stop it from demolishing its Marble Arch store.
The retailer threatened to quit the site altogether if it was not allowed to go ahead with the redevelopment on London’s Oxford Street.
M&S’s operations director Sacha Berendji said the company believed the levelling-up minister “wrongly interpreted” planning policy.
“It is hugely disappointing that after two years of support and approvals at every stage, we have been forced to take legal action to overcome a misguided agenda against our scheme, and we will be challenging this to the fullest extent possible,” he said.
There is no certainty that the courts will approve a judicial review into the matter.
M&S’s proposal to knock down the 93-year-old art deco building near London’s Marble Arch and replace it with a modern retail and office complex had been approved by Westminster council but following opposition from heritage and environmental campaigners, the decision was called in last year by Gove, who launched an inquiry.
The plans were rejected by Gove last month on the grounds the public benefits would not outweigh the harm to nearby heritage sites, including the Selfridges department store and conservation areas.