Michael Gove has rejected proposals by Marks & Spencer to bulldoze and rebuild its flagship Marble Arch store on Oxford Street.
The Housing Secretary on Thursday blocked Marks & Spencer from demolishing its landmark store, objecting on the ground that the project could harm the character of the area.
Stuart Machin, chief executive of Marks & Spencer, immediately hit out at the decision which he described as “pathetic” and “anti-business”.
M&S had planned to demolish the Art Deco building and replace it with a new 10-storey retail and office block with only two and half floors used for retail space.
The retailer vowed to vacate the building if its plans were blocked, warning that the ongoing decline of the shopping district would “accelerate dramatically” if it left.
The retailer argued the change was needed to help meet net zero targets and adapt to the rise of online shopping, which has led to a fall in visits to its in-person stores. It has claimed that demolishing the building, which was built in 1929, was the only way to bring it up to modern energy standards.
Mr Machin said on Thursday: “We have been clear from the outset that there is no other viable scheme – so, after almost a century at Marble Arch, M&S is now left with no choice but to review its future position on Oxford Street on the whim of one man. It is utterly pathetic.”
The project had secured approval from Westminster City Council and the Greater London Authority for its plans, but Mr Gove seized control of the planning application amid concerns about its environmental impact.
The Secretary of State called in the plans because demolishing the 90-year-old building would release 40,000 tonnes of so-called embodied carbon.
M&S claimed that 90pc of materials from the existing site would be reused in the construction of the new building, mitigating the impact of embodied carbon. The new building would also be far more energy efficient, saving on fuel needs.
During a public inquiry, which took place last year, M&S argued that refurbishing the site would be “unsustainable” and “undeliverable”.
The retailer said: “The current site is made up of three separate buildings with poor-quality structures and asbestos challenges, which although completely safe, make it impossible to develop without rebuilding.
“The existing store is a confusing warren of dense structures and misaligned floors, which is not the environment in which the modern customer wants to shop, and the “backstage” area where our colleagues work is of a poor standard and impossible to modernise.”
On Thursday, Mr Machin warned Oxford Street risked becoming the “victim of politics”.
He added “At a time when vacancy rates on what should be the nation’s premier shopping street are 13pc higher than the average UK high street and Westminster Council is pleading for help in managing the growing proliferation of sweet shop racketeers, the Secretary of State has inexplicably taken an anti-business approach, choking off growth and denying Oxford Street thousands of new quality jobs, a better public realm and what would be a modern, sustainable, flag-bearing M&S store.”
Other retailers in the area including Selfridges and Ikea, which will be taking the former Topshop site by Oxford Circus, had supported Marks & Spencer’s plans.
Selfridges said the redevelopment would play a vital role in “maintaining Oxford Street as the UK’s national shop window”.
Mr Gove’s decision was originally supposed to be revealed in April but was delayed until July 20.