Visitors to Oxford Street, W1, this summer could be met with a 25m-high temporary mound designed to bring tourists back to the area as part of a range of measures to breathe new life into the West End.
The structure, dubbed Marble Arch Hill, would be covered in greenery and loom over the street from Hyde Park Corner, with tourists able to climb to the top to look out over the surrounding area.
Westminster City Council is yet to get planning permission for the attraction; however, council leader Rachael Robathan said it “signifies our ambitious approach to the district”, and that it would help boost the local economy, which has been crippled by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Visitors will have to pay a “nominal” entry fee to climb the mound before descending into a hall inside the structure that will be used for events and exhibitions.
The mound is likely to be up for around six months and is the centrepiece of a new £150m strategy designed to turn around the ailing district, published by the council this afternoon.
The plan involves widening pavements and decreasing traffic flow, as well as establishing a network of tree-lined “green routes” through the surrounding area, including a thoroughfare stretching from Hyde Park to Soho.
The council said it would also ramp up the number of electric vehicle charging points, work with landlords on retrofitting heritage buildings to operate on a zero-carbon basis, and set up performance spaces to help “promote playful character” in the area, according to official documents.
The council has ruled out resurrecting plans to pedestrianise Oxford Street in its entirety, which London mayor Sadiq Khan campaigned on in the 2016 election. The plans were controversially scrapped in 2018.
Robathan added: “This is something we had committed to long before the pandemic, but the last year has underlined why it’s so important. The West End is the engine of the London economy and a huge employer which has been hit hard by the effects of Covid-19.”
The launch of the plan comes after nearly a decade of false starts from local authorities. Jace Tyrrell, chief executive of business group the New West End Company, said it was a “huge milestone” for the area.
“The past 12 months have been the toughest on record for businesses on Oxford Street and the surrounding area, and these ambitious plans are a sign of a forward-thinking, sustainable and agile future for the district,” he added.
Before the pandemic, Oxford Street attracted more than 200m visitors a year, but repeated lockdowns and restrictions on international travel have hollowed out the area.
The council hopes the mound and other short-term improvements this summer, such as extra pedestrian space, pop-up parks and new lighting, will help bring in domestic tourists.
It is thought about 200,000 people could visit the temporary attraction while it is in place, subject to Covid restrictions.
James Raynor, chief executive of Grosvenor Britain & Ireland, said: “This reinvention of the heart of the city is not just great news for visitors and businesses in the West End, it’s helping the whole country get back on its feet. It’s brilliant to see such a confident, creative statement of intent in the new Oxford Street Strategy.”
Incoming Westminster Property Association chair Paul Williams added: “Creating such a stand-out attraction at Marble Arch this summer also sends a powerful and eye-catching signal for the start of the West End’s recovery.
“If this vision is supported by a more flexible planning and licensing environment to encourage wider uses, enabling visitors to make the most of the area’s unique experiences, I am hopeful that in the coming years other global cities will look at what has been achieved here and will seek to emulate our success.”
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