Edinburgh’s ruling SNP – Labour Capital Coalition is set to give the green light to a controversial £207 million tram line extension today – despite an ongoing inquiry into the capital’s original trams debacle.
The 2.8 mile (4.6 km) extension from the city centre to Newhaven is expected to be voted through on what the Capital Coalition’s Transport & Environment leader Cllr Lesley Macinnes called a ‘momentous day’ for the city.
When the extension is approved later today, the works should be completed by 2022 and operational in the first quarter of 2023. The council claims sixteen million people will use the new line in the first year of operation.
The cost? The bill for taxpaeyers is forecast to come in at an eye-watering £207 million – although that figure that has already shot up by 25% from original estimates.
Councillor Macinnes said: “We’re poised to make a pivotal decision for the city – one which will have an impact not just on current residents but for generations to come.
“With the city growing at a faster pace than anywhere else in Scotland, we need to make some long-term, strategic decisions to put us in the best place to meet the challenges and opportunities ahead.
“I firmly believe the case stacks up for taking trams to Newhaven and that my fellow councillors will arrive at the same conclusion having now had time to scrutinise it in detail.”
The ominshambles that was Edinburgh’s original tram project will live long in the memory of Edinburgh citizens.
When the first tram eventually ran in May 2014, the cost of a single line – not the promised network – had reached a staggering £776 million: £375 MILLION OVER BUDGET AND THREE YEARS LATE.
The fiasco is the subject of an ongoing public inquiry. Lord Hardie’s Edinburgh Tram Inquiry, announced in November 2014, was tasked:
- To inquire into the delivery of the Edinburgh Trams project (“the project”), from proposals for the project emerging to its completion, including the procurement and contract preparation, its governance, project management and delivery structures, and oversight of the relevant contracts, in order to establish why the project incurred delays, cost considerably more than originally budgeted for and delivered significantly less than was projected through reductions in scope.
- To examine the consequences of the failure to deliver the project in the time, within the budget and to the extent projected.
- To otherwise review the circumstances surrounding the project as necessary, in order to report to the Scottish Ministers making recommendations as to how major tram and light rail infrastructure projects of a similar nature might avoid such failures in future.
Lessons have been learned, the council assures us. But then, they always say that, don’t they? And how can you learn the lessons when the full investigation into the failings of the original project is yet to be completed?
The tram extension may be desirable for some, but in these times of shrinking budgets and slashed council services is it a necessity? Edinburgh has an award-winning bus service – should we be spending over £200 million of public money on less than three miles of tram line we don’t really need?
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