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In some ways, the Marble Arch Mound is exactly what we needed. Something utterly, fantastically stupid to laugh and gawp at. A reminder that, while we might be having a bad day, things are always worse over at Westminster Council. Its bad days have turned into weeks, and those weeks are dragging on.
Recent revelations reveal that the costs of the man-made lump of hollow muck next to Marble Arch have soared to £6 million pounds. Six million pounds! That’s three times the initial projected cost. And with that news comes the resignation of the deputy council leader, Conservative councillor Melvyn Caplan, who led the effort to build the 25-metre-tall balding Teletubbies set-piece.
A hollow artificial hill designed by Dutch architects MVRDV, the Mound was intended to be a sort of arty-farty, green-ish novelty viewing platform. Originally, the organisers charged people to climb the Mound, with tickets starting from £4.50. However, quickly realising that the Mound's open scaffolding and bare foliage didn't quite match the promises of leafy surroundings and 360-degree views over Hyde Park and Oxford Street, they refunded those visitors. The Mound was eventually closed to the public.
The cost of the project was initially reported as £2 million – still, arguably, far, far too much – before it was revealed that the actual costs amounted to £3.3 million. The news that the figure has now ballooned to £6 million has been followed by the resignation of deputy council leader Caplan and promises of an internal review.
The Marble Arch Mound actually reopened a few days ago, letting visitors up (on?) it for free. You still need to book a ticket, which can be done through the official site, though I’m not really sure why you’d want to.
The story so far: the Marble Arch Mound has been closed.
The Mound isn’t the end of the world… or is it? How will London end?