Over 400 people have signed a Cambridge student’s petition to save the Marble Arch Mound, a 25-metre-high man-made hill in London. 

University of Cambridge student Freddie Poser and his friend Alexander Bowen started the petition in response to the attraction closing down after just six months. 

Their campaign has been to no avail, however, as work has begun to dismantle the landmark.

The Mound has been described as “London’s worst tourist attraction”. Visitors have said they are “underwhelmed” and “bored” by it.

It led to the resignation of Westminster Council’s deputy leader Melvyn Caplan after the costs exceeded the original estimates. The Tory-led council review to “understand what went wrong and ensure it never happens again” described the soaring costs of the scheme as “devastating” and “avoidable”. Labour councillors described the project as “a disaster from start to finish”.

But the two young men who started the #SaveTheMound campaign disagree. 

Freddie and Alexander told The Evening Standard that the petition is only “50 per cent tongue in cheek”. 

Freddie told Varsity: “The campaign is about 50/50 serious/satire. The serious bit is that the Mound cost £6m, and spending that for just 6 months versus spending that over 1 or more years are very different propositions. The Mound got over 250,000 visitors so people were going there, why shut it now?” 

Poser went on: “The campaign is also a satire of NIMBY groups who try to defend clearly irrelevant ‘heritage assets.’” Located on the corner of Hyde Park and Oxford Street, the project cost a reported £6 million. The Mound was built to “draw crowds and support the recovery in the West End”, according to a Westminster Council spokesperson.