Considering it is known as London’s “worst attraction”, the Marble Arch Mound was strikingly busy when the Guardian paid a visit. But, then again, it is now free – and many people were only there to see if it was as bad as was being made out. “Underwhelmed is probably a fair description of what we think,” said lawyer John Strange, visiting with his wife, Christine. “The views are not great, although you can pick out a few landmarks. There’s a lovely view of Battersea Power Station.” Paul and Susie Mulley were on a day out in London from Brentwood, Essex, looking at the mound from a park bench. “We came to have a look at it because there had been so much adverse publicity,” said Paul. “It’s not pretty. It looks as if they’ve done it on the cheap, but it’s probably not cheap. If they had flowers all over, it would be so much better.” Only one person could be found to express enthusiasm for it. Shanice Naomi, a personal assistant, said: “They’ve built it up in a way where you can actually see London and that’s nice, I appreciate the scenery.” But she probably wouldn’t pay. “You can go to Sky Garden and that’s free.” The Marble Arch Mound’s descent from “showpiece attraction” to public laughing stock has been precipitous. It was meant to highlight Westminster council’s bold £150m plan to draw shoppers and tourists back to London’s pandemic-ravaged West End. Instead, within weeks of opening, it has become a financial and political disaster. The council had hoped the temporary 25-metre-high artificial hill, built on the corner of Oxford Street and Hyde Park with views across London, could become the capital’s version of New York’s High Line. Or even Paris’ Promenade Plantée, a three-mile green stroll along a 19th-century viaduct. Instead, it has been mocked as “Teletubby hill”. As recently as May, the council reported the mound’s total build and operating costs would be £3.3m. Of this, £2m would be recouped, the bulk through ticket sales to an estimated 280,000 visitors. By early August, however, there were “teething problems”. Costs had near-doubled to £6m. Amid the furore, the council’s deputy leader, Melvyn Caplan, resigned. “It’s been a disaster from the start,” said Pancho Lewis, Labour’s first councillor for Westminster’s affluent Mayfair ward. He blames the fiasco on what he sees as the council’s arrogance and hubris, steamrollering the project through without proper public consultation. “And it’s made Westminster a laughing stock.” Ian Mell, reader in environmental and landscape planning at the University of Manchester, says pop up visitor attractions can work, but the mound always seemed to be a gimmick. “It didn’t seem to be landscaped in terms of design or its functionality, it was just a big bit of grass with a staircase on it. So in terms of offering something with a wow factor, which is what they were hoping for, it falls down on every level.” This week, a furious letter to the council from Westminster’s 23 highly organised amenity societies – neighbourhood residents’ forums in some of the borough’s poshest, traditionally Tory-voting, areas – blamed the scandal on the council’s failure to listen to local people, saying it was “hardly surprising” the mound had failed. “It was not voted on by councillors, it was not consulted on, it was introduced, almost on the spur of the moment by a few people at the top of the council,” said the letter, signed by Mayfair resident Richard Cutt, the chair of the Westminster Amenity Societies Forum. Its failure did not bode well for the rest of the council’s West End renewal strategy, it said, not least its ambitious plan to pedestrianise Oxford Circus, in which traffic would be redirected into the residential streets of Mayfair and Marylebone – and potentially spark a war with those areas’ well-heeled inhabitants. The council, the forum’s letter said ominously, had ignored the many voices who warned against pushing ahead with the mound: “Had they just listened, this very unfortunate outcome could have been avoided.” Westminster council has apologised for the “unacceptable” cost overrun of the mound and set up an internal review to “understand what went wrong”. But it remains tight-lipped about how the costs spiralled so quickly out of control. The mound will be relaunched for paying customers in September. The council remains bullish about the mound and its wider renewal plans, insisting doing nothing is not an option as it fights to save the area’s battered economy. The borough’s few square miles took £2.4bn annually in business rates pre-pandemic, accounting for 8% of England’s total take. Yet, since March 2020, a fifth of shops on Oxford Street have closed permanently. “The challenge we face is reviving Westminster’s battered economy after lockdown and attracting visitors, so their spending can protect local jobs and services. That is what the local people I speak to tell me they want their council to do, and that is what I remain focused on,” said Westminster leader Rachael Robathan. The mound’s designer, Rotterdam-based architects MVRDV, insists it will look better in time once nature takes its course. A spokesperson said it had opened too soon. “It is always unpredictable when you work with plants and trees, especially in challenging weather conditions. Because of the recent drought, the sedum appears brown and thin – but it will get better.”