Marble Arch Mound: Demolition demand brushed aside as thousands visit attraction

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More than 100,000 people have visited the West End troubled tourist attraction Marble Arch Mound, according to Westminster City Council.

Opposition Labour councillors are calling for the £6m visitor platform to be demolished as soon as possible to 'put the Mound out of its misery'.

But Westminster's Tory leader Cllr Rachael Robathan is expected to tell a council meeting the Mound is 'doing what it was supposed to do'.

The council claims almost 5,000 people climbed the Mound on Saturday and an LED light show beneath the artificial hill is proving a hit with visitors.

Plans to charge visitors between £4.50 and £8.00 were scrapped after the Mound opened to scathing reviews.

'The Mound is doing what it was supposed to do - getting people back into our City.

Its launch troubles are well chronicled but are now fading. People going up the Mound and viewing the lightshow increasingly like it,' said Cllr Rachael Robathan, Leader, Westminster City Council.

The council has commissioned a review of project after the cost soared from £2m to £6m.

"The Mound project has been a major embarrassment to the Westminster Council who lost £6m of taxpayers' money," Cllr Adam Hug, Leader of Westminster Council Labour group.

"It highlights the incompetence and arrogance of a Conservative administration that has been in power far too long.

It's time to get rid of the Conservatives and put the Mound out of its misery,' he added.

The Mound is expected to stay open until January.