The growing problems with the Marble Arch Mound have become a national story – but what’s the connection to the Isle of Wight?
Well, it turns out that an ex-senior council officer is at the centre of it all.
A quick recap:
- The Marble Arch Mound – a “temporary 24m-high hill structure located at Marble Arch” – was, as Westminster council puts it, “designed to bring the buzz and footfall back to London”.
Boldly the council’s paper revealed, “The Mound is intended to be a showcase attraction, expected to bring 280,000 ticketed visitors with millions passing by.” It continued, “It is expected to create a renewed excitement about the area, attract more people to it, support local businesses through increasing dwell time and help resurrect the West End’s economic recovery.” - When it opened to the public it didn’t in any way match the rich green hill experience the initial brochure had promised. In fact, the general public reaction to it was that it was a total mess.
- Next the original £8 entry charge to walk up it was scrapped for August, dropping to zero. Even at this cost there were few takers.
- The latest news to break: The original £1.998m build costs that were first imagined. The council admitted costs for the whole project had reached £6m. This led to the deputy leader of Westminster, Melvyn Caplan, resigning with immediate effect.
What’s the Isle of Wight angle?
What’s the IW angle? Well, the Chief Exec of Westminster City Council is one Stuart Love. You may remember Stuart from his time as a senior officer at Isle of Wight council.
He worked at the Isle of Wight council in various Planning-related roles between November 2006 and 2013.
When he left in November 2013, he was Director of Economy and Environment. He briefly went to work at Southampton City Council as ‘Director of Place’.
Stuart quickly moved on to Westminster City council to take up the role of Executive Director for City Management and Communities. Prior to being on the Isle of Wight, Stuart was at Westminster between 2003-6.
The apology Stuart gave
At the time that the entry price was reduced to zero for August, Stuart was quoted as saying
“We wanted to open the mound in time for the summer holidays and we did not want to disappoint people who had already booked tickets.
“We made a mistake and we apologise to everyone who hasn’t had a great experience on their visit,” adding it was ‘going to look great and be an amazing experience once we’ve got it going.”
Since then there have been quite a few twists and turns, leading to the recent political resignation, which may, or may not, lead to the end of this.
BBC speak to visitors about it
Image: © Westminster City Council
