Michael Gove’s public inquiry into whether Marks & Spencer can demolish and rebuild its flagship store on London’s Oxford Street begins

• An inquiry opened into M&S plans to demolish and rebuild its Oxford Street store
• Retail giant says its shop and others on Oxford Street are failing commercially 
• Environmental campaigners say redevelopment will produce too much carbon

A public inquiry to decide whether Marks & Spencer can demolish and rebuild its flagship on London’s Oxford Street began today.

The retail giant says its shop along with others on Oxford Street are failing commercially and need rejuvenating.

But heritage and environmental campaigners believe redevelopment would produce too much carbon and damage the area’s early 20th Century heritage.

Led by the charity SAVE Britain’s Heritage, the challengers say demolishing and rebuilding the site’s three buildings would emit 40,000 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) which would amount to driving 99 million miles, further than the distance to the sun.

They argue that M&S should instead retrofit the buildings, the earliest of which was built in 1930, which they say would also avoid any heritage damage to the Grade II* listed Selfridges building next door.

Marks & Spencer says its shop along with others on Oxford Street are failing commercially and need rejuvenating

However Selfridges have publicly endorsed the redevelopment plans saying they would enhance, rather than harm, their own store.

M&S said it will have to abandon the site if its plans are rejected and that carbon emitted during demolition and construction would be offset by the new store’s energy efficiency.

Russell Harris KC, representing M&S at the public inquiry set up by Michael Gove when he was levelling up Secretary, said retro-fitting would not be enough to reverse the store’s misfortunes and Oxford Street would suffer if the company left.

He said: ‘The fact that the existing store is failing both contributes to and is compounded by the fact that the west end of Oxford Street is also in decline.

‘That decline is obvious and palpable. Go there, it has a smell, a tangible, unmistakable expression of decline.

‘Without M&S at this location, and they will leave if the application fails, the decline of this area of the centre will accelerate dramatically.

‘Such an outcome, further decline, is not consistent with the requirement that investment in Oxford Street should enhance the West End’s position as a globally competitive retail destination.’

M&S plans for its central London store are being heard in a public inquiry set up by Michael Gove while he was levelling up Secretary

He also said that an application to list the oldest building, Orchard House, was rejected and that a new building ‘would be one of the most sustainable buildings in the whole of the capital’.

Matthew Fraser, representing SAVE, said demolition of the early 20th century building would result in a loss of heritage and result in a level of CO2 emissions that is incompatible with the need to meet the Paris Agreement and limit global temperature to 2C.

He said: ‘Such a significant embodied carbon cost could have been avoided, and could still be avoided, if M&S seriously and creatively considered the option of refurbishing the buildings.

‘A comprehensive retrofit of the buildings would introduce greater operational energy efficiency in buildings, avoid the large embodied carbon emissions of the demolition and rebuild, achieve the desired improvements in terms of providing high quality retail and office space and avoid the harmful heritage impacts of the proposed new build scheme.’

Planning permission to demolish the buildings was granted by Westminster City Council (WCC) who support the redevelopment saying it will ‘update and enhance the historic environment’ and would result in a ‘greatly improved streetscape’.

Marks & Spencer’s flagship Oxford Street store at the time of its opening in 1964

Apart from rebooting the store’s commercial value, M&S say the redevelopment will also provide public benefits such as a new ‘high quality arcade restoring a traditional route, a new pocket park at Granville Place, widened and safe footpaths along Oxford Street and Orchard Street’.

But SAVE said these aims could be achieved through retrofitting and criticised WCC and the Mayor of London for misapplying their own sustainability policies by supporting the plans and missing an opportunity to show what they could achieve.

Mr Fraser said: ‘Despite claiming that sustainability is at the core of their brand and committing to being a net zero business by 2040, M&S have dismissed the creative refurbishment alternative to such an extent that they have made a threat to the Secretary of State to leave Orchard House altogether if they do not get their way.

‘This is not the constructive attitude of a retailer dedicated to sustainability, heritage conservation and the future success of Oxford Street.’

Charlie Baxter, a property developer in central London, added: ‘I have often had to make challenging decisions about what is best for the environment and what is best for profits.

‘In the face of the climate emergency, we must rethink our disposable attitude to buildings.

‘Carbon emissions emitted today have a larger impact compared to those released in the future because today’s emissions are in the atmosphere and contribute to global warming for longer.

‘It is time for the government and for WCC to push developers to make decisions that benefit the environment. The public has had enough.’

The hearing, expected to take two weeks to complete, continues.

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