£6.1m bill before tram hearings even begin
‘Ministers want it to be cost effective’
A PUBLIC inquiry into Edinburgh’s disastrous trams project has swallowed £6.1million of taxpayers’ money – before it has heard a word of evidence. The Scottish Government yesterday confirmed the huge cost after it was revealed a series of former Edinburgh City Council leaders will become the first to give evidence next week.
Alex Salmond announced the probe in 2014 in an attempt to discover why the £1billion project went so catastrophically wrong. He insisted at the time the inquiry would be ‘swift and thorough’.
But, like the project itself, the inquiry has dragged on for much longer than many expected – leading to soaring costs.
Yesterday, the inquiry confirmed it will begin taking evidence at a series of hearings starting next week. The sessions are expected to last several months.
Among the first to appear before inquiry chairman Lord Hardie will be the three people who led Edinburgh City Council from 1999 until 2012 – Donald Anderson, Ewan Aitken and Jenny Dawe.
The inquiry will also hear from former transport convener Lesley Hinds, Iain Whyte, leader of the Scottish Conservatives on the council, and former Tory group leader Jeremy Balfour, now an MSP.
Lord Hardie said: ‘Today’s announcement is part of a wide range of work the inquiry has been doing in preparation for public hearings getting under way in a few weeks’ time. The oral evidence heard at these hearings will be used in conjunction with the wide range of evidence already gathered to inform my final recommendations.
‘The inquiry team has undertaken a substantial amount of activity including identifying, retrieving and reviewing more than six million documents and securing written statements from a number of witnesses. The hearings mark another important phase of this work.’
In June 2016, the Scottish Government said spending on the inquiry was £3.7million, half of which was attributed to staffing costs.
Transport Scotland yesterday said the total has soared to £6.1million. That figure is set to rise, with £1.5million allocated to the inquiry in the Scottish Government’s budget for 2017/18.
Trams finally began running in 2014, five years after the scheme was due to be completed. With a Scottish Government contribution of £500million, City of Edinburgh Council borrowed almost £250million to fund the £776million cost of laying the nine-mile track from Edinburgh Airport to St Andrew Square in the city centre.
Once interest payments over 30 years are included, the final cost will reach £1billion, making it the most expensive transport scheme per mile in the world.
The trams were originally budgeted at £375million. A ‘network’ with two separate lines, stretching from Newbridge in the west to Leith and the seafront, was drawn up.
But omissions and errors, such as failing to include inflation in the original estimate, saw the route scaled back four times. The line now only runs to the city centre.
Edinburgh was run by a Labour council when the scheme was first announced and the first government money was signed off by the Labour/ Lib Dem Scottish Executive.
After its Holyrood victory in 2007, the SNP tried to halt the project but lost a crucial vote as it was a minority government at the time.
However, the Nationalists have been involved in the scheme at a local level as they have been in coalition at City of Edinburgh Council since 2007, first with the Lib Dems and then with Labour.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘Although ministers have no role in the day-to-day running of this inquiry, they want it to be efficient, cost effective and deliver clear recommendations for the planning and construction of any future major tram and light rail projects of a similar nature.
‘As a core participant, Scottish ministers and relevant officials fully expected to participate in the inquiry and are happy to give evidence later this year.’
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