Marks & Spencer’s plan to knock down Oxford Street flagship store approved

Marks & Spencer has won the battle to raze its Oxford Street flagship store.

Deputy First Minister Angela Rayner approved the proposal after a three-year planning dispute.

It’s a big win for chief executive Stuart Machin, who said the group would “act as quickly as we can” to redevelop the site.

M&S will now demolish its 1929 art deco flagship near Marble Arch in central London and build a larger retail and office block in its place.

The High Street stalwart says a new site, which will include a cafe and gym, will create 2,000 jobs.

The decision was seen as a test of Labour’s promises to support economic growth, which many businesses already see as broken in October’s £40bn tax rise budget.

And experts hope it will help Oxford Street turn around and defeat the tacky sweet shops that now line the street.

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 in the UK – have been approved. Oxford Street.

“We can now get on with the job of helping to rejuvenate the UK’s high street through a flagship M&S store and office space, which will create 2,000 jobs and act as a global standard-bearer for sustainability.”

Machin, who has teamed up with actress Sienna Miller to launch new ranges, added: “We share the Government’s ambition to bring life back to our cities and towns, and we are pleased to see that they are serious about making Britain be built and grow.” Now we will move forward as quickly as we can.’

Former housing secretary Michael Gove blocked the plans last year.

The retailer won a High Court battle for an appeal in March, but it was delayed by the general election.

Dee Corsi, chief executive of the New West End Company, said the redevelopment “will help cement the West End’s status as a global destination for both shoppers and office workers”.

But heritage campaigners branded it a “missed opportunity” to rejuvenate the current building in a similar way to the Tate Modern or “the great Pennine textile mills”.

“It is deliberately short-sighted not to see that the elegant M&S ​​building could play a similar role in the history of Oxford Street, whose fortunes are already on the rise,” said Henrietta Billings, director of Save Britain’s Heritage.

Some of Britain’s leading architects, including Grand Designs presenter Kevin McCloud, also opposed the plan.

Last year, Machin called Gove’s decision “absolutely pathetic” and “pointless”. He accused the minister of taking “an anti-business approach, stifling growth and denying Oxford Street hundreds of thousands of quality new jobs”.

M&S even threatened to leave the high street in protest.

In his 144-page report, Rayner cited the verdict of the independent planning inspector, who warned that the loss of M&S was likely to have “a serious detrimental impact on the vitality and viability of the area”.

And he said there were “unavoidable structural issues” that would make renovating the old store “deeply problematic”.

Property lawyers said this decision would lay the foundation for future planning decisions.