We Irish have a great way of sorting out disputes. We take off our jackets, go into the pub car park and may the best man (or woman) win.
Now wouldn’t this be a great way to solve planning disputes.
The developers in their hi-viz jackets and the councillors in their suits.
In each corner, we would have m’learned friends – the lawyers – whispering advice.
The Yanks have taken up this with Elon Musk (Tesla, Twitter, rockets, etc) taking on Mark Zuckerburg (Facebook, Instagram, Meta (what’s that?) and Threads (and what’s that?) offering to go one to one in a cage fight.
Seemingly both are in training. I absolutely can’t wait. I will pay £100 pay-per-view to watch this.
Back to planning – why wouldn’t this work. And we have a classic example with the Joint CEO of Marks and Spencer ready to take on The Secretary of State Michael Gove, who has stymied his plan to knock down the M&S building in Oxford Street.
The Joint CEO of M&S is furious, accusing the Government of “ignoring” experts, presumably his planning consultants.
He has threatened to pull the company out of the famous London shopping area altogether.
He said: “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.” Go for it Stuart.
Meanwhile the bespectacled Mr Gove is keeping his powder dry and his officials and Westminster Council go on about how knocking the building down could cause some sort of climate emergency.
So let’s have a cage fight – Mr Gove may have to remove his spectacles – but otherwise he seems fairly trim. And may the best man win.
Although I write in jest, wouldn’t it be fun. In fact we could have a double header with Musk and Zuckerberg on the same bill.
On a more serious note, I feel for M&S’s frustration. They have had permission from Westminster Council (admittedly when it was Tory controlled), the Inspector, and now have been refused twice by the Department.
The building isn’t listed nor is it in the conservation areas.
I can’t say that Mr Gove gets full Marks (sorry) for this one, but the Sparks (terrible) will fly.
Finally, perhaps Mr Gove it might be a good idea for the opponents to settle things the British way and have a nice cup of tea and chat.
Have a good weekend
Tom
by the Planning PR guru 