Westminster council lost money on ‘industrial scale’ in Marble Arch mound debacle

By Jacob Phillips, Local Democracy Reporter

Westminster city council “wasted money on an industrial scale” building the Marble Arch mound and trying to revamp Oxford Street, according to councillors.

The council’s new Labour administration has said the £6million spent on the scaffold-based hill was just the tip of the iceberg of wasted money by their Conservative predecessors.

An independent review into Westminster city council’s Oxford District (OSD) programme has also shown the then Tory council spent £34million of its £150million budget on the Photography Quarter in Soho, widening pavements, writing strategy documents and preparatory works among other things.

The report reveals that on top of the money spent on the mound, £16million was spent on complete and temporary works around Oxford Street. A further £8million was spent on operating costs.

But the council will be able to benefit from some of the money spent and a £3.1million investment has been made in design and preparatory works on nine streets around Oxford Street and Soho.

The mound tourist attraction was built during the pandemic to try to entice shoppers back to the West End, but it had to be made free to visit after plants started to wilt and die from its opening day.

Visitors were charged between £4.50 and £8 to climb up the wood and scaffold mound, complete with grass, shrubs and trees, and it closed after just two days. It was then revealed the project cost £6million, three times its original budget.

Speaking about the mound at Westminster’s full council meeting on Wednesday, Labour councillor Geoff Barraclough said: “Retailers have been telling us for years Oxford Street is no longer the global standard. Too much traffic, too much pollution, crowded pavements. [It is] tired and in need of investment.

“Let’s remind ourselves of the previous administration’s response. Hiring a programme director with an eye-watering salary of £220,000-a-year and building a moth-eaten mountain. The result – £6million wasted and made this council a global laughing stock.”

In turn Conservative councillor, Melvyn Caplan, who had to resign over the Marble Arch Mound overspending when he was deputy leader, criticised the new administration for taking major risks with its own budget. He questioned whether the Labour Party would be able to deliver its own budget.

He responded: “There are many parts of the budget that have gone unchallenged tonight because most of those budgets were ones the previous administration set and the new administration is carrying out unchanged. Clearly, as a majority group, we got an awful lot of things right.”

He added: “Eighty per cent of the proposals of city management depend on income. It’s a major risk in terms of those areas. £3.25 million is going to come from parking income. Unfortunately, we have been told we have to wait until June/July to find out what this is. Are they going to hammer visitors coming into the city so much they will stop coming?”

Pictured top: The Marble Arch Mound stripped down (Picture: Jacob Phillips)