Today the High Court ruled in Marks and Spencer’s (M&S) favour in its challenge to the Secretary of State’s (Michael Gove) decision to refuse planning permission for redevelopment of its store on Oxford Street (see here for our previous article).
The Court held that the Secretary of State had “re-written” the policy on re-use of buildings as required by the NPPF, rather than apply the policy as actually stated. The Judge further found that the Secretary of State had failed to provide sufficient reasoning as to why he was departing from the recommendation of the planning inspector, who following an inquiry had recommended that permission should be granted.
Given the Court’s decision, it is now for Mr Gove to redetermine the appeal – in theory, permission could still be refused. M&S’ road to redevelopment of Oxford Street is not yet over, but every little helps*.
*We know, this is a different supermarket!
Today’s decision will be embarrassing for the Government, not least because of the public perception on the costs incurred.
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