Wait for tram inquiry report now longer than for Chilcot on Iraq
It was meant to put to bed all the questions and concerns surrounding a major construction project which disrupted the daily life of the city and saw Scotland's capital become the butt of many jokes.
The inquiry led by former Lord advocate lord har die into Edinburgh's behind-schedule and over-budget tram scheme would identify what had gone wrong and spell out the lessons to be learned so the same mistakeswould not be made again.
But nearly seven and a half years after the inquiry was announced and three and a half years after the public hearings finished, Lord Hardie's report on the tram project has still not been published.
And instead of settling the issues around the trams debacle, the inquiry has become as much of a talking point as the project it was established to investigate.
The inquiry team says the report will be published "as soon as practicable". But it has lasted longer than the Chilcot inquiry into the Iraq war.
When alex sal mo nd, the then First Minister, announced the inquiry, just a few days after the trams had started running between the city centre and Edinburgh Airport, he said it would be "swift and thorough".
That was on june 5, 2014 – seven years and five months ago, compared with the seven years and 21 days between prime minister Gordon Brown's announcement of the Iraq war inquiry on june 15,2009, and sir John chilcot' s report being published on July 6,2016.
And it may not be long before the cost of the tram inquiry also exceeds the cost of Chilcot. According to figures released last month, lord hardie' s probe has cost £12 million so far. The final bill for Sir John's was £13 million.
A source involved in the trams project said: “This is the first inquiry in history which has turned into a bigger scandal than the one it was set up to look into in the first place.” After a year, the inquiry had already spent almost £1m and by January 2016 the bill had passed £2 mas investigators sifted through six millions documents. In July 2016 the cost had reached £3.7m and questions were being asked about why the inquiry as taking so long.
The public hearings finally began on September 5, 2017 and, with various breaks, lasted until May 24, 2018, a total of 18 weeks’ evidence. The official statement at the end said Lord Hardie would publish his report “in due course”.
But the reason for the long delay remains a mystery. lothian Tory MSP Jeremy Balfour, who was a councillor at the time of the project and gave evidence to the inquiry, said: “It's an outrage.
"All the evidence has been taken, we're simply waiting for Lord Hardie to produce his report. No-one will tell us when it's going to be available.
"My understanding was that before the report is published everyone who is mentioned in it would have an opportunity to comment and that hasn't happened either, so it's not even as if it's going to be published in the next couple of months.”
Depute council leader Cammy Day said: “We have been given no information from the inquiry team or the government so we have no idea what the delays are.”
A spokesperson for the inquiry said: “We continue to make good progress towards producing the final report.”