The Marble Arch Mound

• THE fiasco that was the Marble Arch Mound wasted £6million that would have been better spent in improving this faded and degraded “visitor attraction”.

The traffic island that is home to the Marble Arch is infested with scores of pigeons and also permanent base camp for the professional beggars who prey on tourists on Oxford Street. Both groups are responsible for the filth and litter left behind.

The benches that line the perimeter are in a terrible state – broken and splintered – hardly a “Welcome to London” endorsement. This is the main thoroughfare to Hyde Park and shabby one!

The new city council should replace the benches with picnic tables, install a children’s carousel and relocate the redundant BT phone boxes from Bayswater / Edgware Road junction to create photo-opportunities; keep the table tennis tables and re-employ the hawk who scared pigeons away. That will not cost £6million!

ETHAN POD
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