After £6 million pounds of investment, a four month wait and increasing anticipation, the Marble Arch Mound was opened, and instantly raised the eyebrows of thousands of Londoners as they struggled to comprehend its purpose.

On June 26th 2021, Westminster council opened the Marble Arch Mound as part of the City of Westminster’s £150 million project to improve the Oxford Street area. The 25-metre artificial mound took about £6 million to complete, compared with the £3 million forecast and £2 million budget. Most of this money was taken from taxpayer funds and lead to many people questioning the mound, with many being outrageous that their taxes were so ill used.

Westminster council's chief executive revealed that there had been, "clear and repeated warnings" about the project being overbudget. "Overly optimistic financial updates were given to senior leaders". This exposes the poor planning and management of the project and the deputy leader of Westminster council, who was responsible for the project, resigned after the cost escalated.

To fuel the outrage even more, initially tickets had been priced at £4.50 to £8 depending on the age group. This ensured that most visitors were unhappy and rightly so: who would want to pay a good amount of money to walk up a manmade mound funded by taxpayer money? During an interview to BBC news, a Londoner stated, "I wouldn't pay £4 to walk up a hill" showing the general attitude towards the mound.

However, once the plants started dying, the entrance fee had to be dropped and this did improve attitudes towards it, and meant more people were willing to visit the mound.

One purpose of the mound was to attract people back to London after the pandemic and although of the 200,000 or more ticketholders who were expected to visit the artificial mound Only 90,000 visited with all ticketholders getting a refund, it still achieved the aim of attracting tourists to London, although less successfully than hoped.

Although this controversial project has come under fire, it may have benefitted the Oxford Street area, just not as expected before it was completed. Furthermore despite the huge costs that were two times higher than the anticipated price, it encouraged spending in nearby shops and restaurants to boost economic recovery and has also proved how certain projects should be avoided in the future.