I'm endlessly amazed at the dotty projects local councils get up to, quite often ignoring widespread advice that the project is dotty and should be scrapped.
Westminster Council in London thought it would be a super wheeze to build an artificial 25 metre (82 feet) hill next to Marble Arch. For £4.50 you could climb up to the top and see supposedly splendid views across the city.
Unfortunately the hill (the Marble Arch Mound) has been panned and ridiculed by just about everyone, including most of the visitors, local residents and 23 local amenity groups. Not only are the views far from splendid, they include rubble, building works and scaffolding. And unfortunately the hill (hillock would be more accurate) cost a staggering £6 million.
The £4.50 charge has been temporarily dropped and hundreds of people have flocked to the hill just to see how bad it is.
I'd like to think Belfast Council wouldn't dream up anything so monumentally daft, but you never know.
I wonder how long it will be before the Mound is discreetly removed at dead of night (or dead of several nights) and the council pretends it was never there in the first place. "Mound? What Mound? Where did you get that idea?"
Pic: the infamous Mound
That’s a new one! An artificial hill is not something I’d imagine anyone here doing, though it might be preferable to our numerous shopping plazas that clutter suburbia.
ReplyDeleteBijoux: But at least you can make useful purchases at a shopping mall. No chance of snapping up some cheap jeans at the Mound.
DeleteSomething like that happening here would straight away be attributed to a politician /builder nexus.
ReplyDeleteRamana: That might be the explanation here, but of course nobody would admit it. It would need some suspicious journalist to be nosing around.
DeleteI wonder what they're hiding underneath it? It's so ridiculous that it's probably concealing a secret governmental bunker.
ReplyDeleteSx
Ms Scarlet: Yes, that might be it. The nuclear strike control room in the basement perhaps.
DeleteThe Marble Arch Mound sure sounds like a waste of time and effort and to read that an admission charge was required was even crazier!
ReplyDeleteBeatrice: Primrose Hill and Hampstead Heath in north London are both very scenic and cost nothing to visit!
DeleteOh my word, what an eyesore!
ReplyDeletePolly: Isn't it just? How can anyone possibly have seen it as a tourist attraction?
DeleteBeats our lot into a cocked hat.Councils view with each other to have the name of their town or village put up alongside the road, or in a park - the name of the place in large letters - about man high - adorned with sloths, toucans and whatever takes t he artist's fancy. Perish the thought they would put up a sign which drivers could see as they enter said village or town...that, apparwntly, is the job of th highways authority...
ReplyDeleteFly: Glad to say the UK still has (in the main) simple functional place signs. They might possibly say "Welcome to X" or "X welcomes careful drivers".
DeleteWell, it certainly is a conversation starter. We have space needle in Seattle Washington and a few other tall structures which give a good view. I guess they were being creative with a mound of dirt. But it does not compete with the Effel Tower or Tower of Pisa.
ReplyDeleteAnn: It couldn't be less like the Eiffel Tower or the Leaning Tower of Pisa! It's a notable lack that there's no tall building in the area that affords good views over the city and is also open to visitors.
DeleteThat's odd. Seems like one of those committee ideas where cooler heads did not prevail.
ReplyDeleteAgent: I doubt if there was even any committee involved. It sounds like the Chief Executive had this fab idea and just ran with it.
DeleteThere seems no safe way to climb it.
ReplyDeleteJoanne: There's actually a staircase but I guess it's hidden round the other side.
DeleteJoanne: And anyway, who ever heard of a hill with a staircase?
DeleteIt's interesting I guess. Sure is unique but I think they would be better off with something else there.
ReplyDeleteMary: It's certainly unique! Uniquely hideous and laughable.
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