Transport quango ‘relaxed’ over soaring tram costs

SCOTLAND’S transport quango took a relaxed approach to the soaring costs of the Edinburgh tram project despite stumping up more than £500million of public money, an inquiry has heard.

Transport Scotland’s commercial director William Reeve explained in evidence yesterday that because the city council was liable for any excess costs, the quango did not concern itself with those issues.

The Edinburgh Tram Inquiry, chaired by Lord Hardie, is attempting to establish why the project went over budget from £375million to more than £1billion and dragged on three years late.

Asked whether Transport Scotland had concerns when costs looked likely to go over budget, Mr Reeve said: ‘No, and the context of that was an understanding that City of Edinburgh Council would be liable for any costs after the budget.’ However, he did admit: ‘We would regard it as regretful if the council had to pay more money.’

After 2007, while still contributing to the project as main funder, Transport Scotland took a back seat from operational involvement.

Mr Reeve explained: ‘The advice we received was to produce an arrangement which allowed us to step back from the dayto-day management of the project. So we made recommendations to the Cabinet Secretary and he signalled he was content.’

Shown a document in which he referred to Transport Scotland’s new role as that of ‘bankers’, Mr Reeve added: ‘I was trying to communicate to members that we were stepping back from the more active roles in the tram project, consistent with the agreement that had been reached with ministers.’