Minister says any extension of tram line is for ‘another generation’

By IAN SWANSON Political Editor
Published on Wednesday 7 December 2011 12:05

THE man in charge of Scotland’s infrastructure has ruled out trams going to Leith for the next 25 years.

Infrastructure Secretary Alex Neil said any move to take the route further than the city centre would be a decision for “another generation”.

Mr Neil was unveiling the Scottish Government’s infrastructure investment plan up until 2030, which includes a host of road and rail projects, hospitals, schools and colleges – but no more trams.

SNP ministers have repeatedly said there will be “not a penny more” of government money for the controversial project beyond the £500 million agreed in 2007 when the Scottish Parliament voted to support the trams, against the wishes of the then minority Nationalist administration.

Since then, there have been repeated delays and the budget of £545m for a route from the airport to Newhaven has soared to £776m for bringing the trams from the airport to St Andrew Square.

Asked about funding a further stage of the route to take the trams to the waterfront, Mr Neil said: “The original proposal was that the entire project from the airport to Leith would cost less than £600m and we would be riding the trams by now.

“Those of us who had more common sense stated that was extremely unlikely to happen either in terms of the cost or the timescale and sadly we were proved right.

“If there is any extension beyond St Andrew Square it will be for another generation to decide.”

Bill Harrison, who works at Carolyn designer florist in Constitution Street, welcomed the idea that there would be no trams heading for Leith any time soon.

“I’m glad they’re not here,” he said. “We had all these years of the roads dug up. At least now we have no more leaks in our basement and customers can stop their cars outside.”

Council chiefs, however, insist they still want to take the tram to Leith.

In a report to councillors last week, city development director Dave Anderson said: “The long-term intention is to extend the tram network north of York Place but the timescale for this work has still to be established and it is likely to be several years.”

Transport convener Gordon Mackenzie said top priority at the moment was completing the route to St Andrew Square.

He said: “It’s not for the next generation, it’s for the next council to make a decision on the future extension of the trams.

“I’m not giving up on the people of Leith – the trams are very much part of the future regeneration of Leith and the waterfront.

“People both for and against have recognised the tram only makes sense if it is part of a network. The question is when will we move to the next section and I like to think it will be sooner rather than later.”

He acknowledged there was a change of emphasis from housing to commerce and industry in the proposed development of the waterfront, and the business case for the trams would have to be reviewed.

But he said: “If there are going to be more offices, factories and businesses, that is still going to generate journeys.”

City Labour group leader Andrew Burns said the trams should eventually go to Leith and he hoped it would be sooner than 25 years.

He said: “The public are right to be sceptical until we see what comes out of a public inquiry about the complete unravelling of this project.”

Council leader Jenny Dawe previously said she had received a number of enquiries from private companies interested in completing the line to Newhaven with the council potentially renting it back.

Getting to work

TRAM bosses have revealed their detailed timetable for getting the line to St Andrew Square ready for services to start in mid-2014.

The schedule, circulated to businesses and others along the route, sets target dates to within three months.

Tram works in St Andrew Square and Shandwick Place and the resumed works in Princes Street will all be under way early in the new year. Princes Street is due to reopen in summer next year.

In St Andrew Square, the road closure and traffic management will last all next year, though track works will not finish until 2014.

Shandwick Place will be closed until spring 2013, with track works continuing until the end of that year. All work at the Gogar depot is due to finish in the next fortnight.

In York Place, a traffic management system will come into force some time between July and September next year and last until October-December 2013.

Overhead line and electrification work is due to be completed along most of the route by early 2014.

Transport convener Gordon Mackenzie said: “The project has been progressing well since work restarted and we are now in a position to look to the future with greater clarity and positivity.”

Gordon Henderson, of the Federation of Small Businesses, who complained it had not been given enough information timings, said: “Credit where credit’s due. We asked for something and they responded very quickly. Now we need to see how they report against that timetable.”

Comments

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37

paulr

Thursday, December 8, 2011 at 08:46 AM

council leaders are the only people who want this tram system. They claim it is something wonderfull for the city, perhaps for 5% of residents who wish to travel in a straight line, but no more than that. As there was no consultation on this project, how can they claim that the people of the city want it?

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36

Jools in Edinburgh

Thursday, December 8, 2011 at 02:27 AM

I certainly agree with Alex Neil to the extent that if the SNP are going to be running things at local and national level for 25 years then we definitely shouldn't start any more tram work.

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35

dgg

Wednesday, December 7, 2011 at 10:38 PM

Where will the money come from? Foreign investors and our pension funds who will lap up the resulting profits. The reason pension funds are in the **i* are because most investments return approx 1% right now, and were opportunities available for high returns we'd no longer have a pensions crisis. Believe it.

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34

dgg

Wednesday, December 7, 2011 at 10:31 PM

I love the picture. Ocean terminal will probably have been demolished before the trams arrive! meantime I'll just stick to my #22 bus into town. Wait. Bother. They'll remove it completely when the trams supersede its Western part, yes?

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33

Chesh29

Wednesday, December 7, 2011 at 10:24 PM

Sounds like SNP sulking to me. They lost the argument on trams, and when they start rolling Alex Neil's embarrassment will be further compounded when they prove to be a success and when expansion across the city becomes a natural progression. The good people of Leith were put through a lot of inconvenience, and for the Nats to be telling them they won't be part of Edinburgh's future public transport considerations is an insult to Leithers.

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32

Hazelkaye

Wednesday, December 7, 2011 at 09:47 PM

Yet another "(we're) here today - (but) gone tomorrow" political statement! Remember Stewart Stevenson (yes WHO)? The one who was ousted by M8 (we're coping) snow!

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31

YerMawsMaw

Wednesday, December 7, 2011 at 07:28 PM

So if the trams urnae goin down the Walk can we get the clock and roundabout back at Elm Row and the road re surfaced as it a disgrace? And maybe the trees that went down the middle of the road... They were nice...

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30

The Ayrshire Bard

Wednesday, December 7, 2011 at 07:05 PM

If we have to wait 25 years for trams to get to Leith that means it be 80 years from the time the last ones ran. From Pilrig I could get a 2 to Granton or Stenhouse, a 7 to Stanley Road or Liberton, a 10 to Bernard Street or Colinton,an 11 to Stanley Road or Fairmilehead, a 12 to Joppa or Corstorphine, a 13 to Granton Circle or Churchhill,a 14 on similar route except via Leith Walk and Bernard Street, a 16 to Granton or Fairmilehead, a 17 to Granton or Newington Station, a 25 to Kings Road or Corstorphine, a 28 to Stanley Road or the Braids. Within a few minutes from Pilrig we could access any of the rest of the 28 different routes that were available when Edinburgh had a great transport system. There were of course an additional 25 bus routes plus excellent suburban railways. Isn't progress wonderful!

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29

I'd rather be on holiday

Wednesday, December 7, 2011 at 06:26 PM

It should have been cancelled altogether. The Edinburgh tram project is, always has been, and always will be a complete and utter misconceived disaster. Wrong route, wrong vehicles, wrongly managed, scandalously expensive, no credible business case. It won't do anything to help transport in Edinburgh (unless for the tiny minority who happen to want to travel from the Airport to York Place and don't plan to get off in between). Are we supposed to cheer that it's meant to be "finished" after years of major disruption by 2014? Is three years late for half a line at twice the price meant to be cause for celebration?

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28

Maurice the Dolphin

Wednesday, December 7, 2011 at 06:15 PM

Roll up, roll up for Alec Neil's mystery tour

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27

The View from Salisbury Crags

Wednesday, December 7, 2011 at 05:19 PM

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26

Wednesday, December 7, 2011 at 05:13 PM

It will take 25 years to get the present lot up and running. pigswill_trumpet.

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25

Bunch of malcontent whingers

Wednesday, December 7, 2011 at 05:05 PM

Some of you are just plain bug-eyed nuts. Government's sets goals that are designed to support existing and potential future needs of a (hopefully) growing economy, an increasing population and inward investment. That doesn't happen over night, over a week or even over a year. It takes several years and into decades to build these mechanisms of growth. Anyone that has ever been involved in running a business can explain the basics of strategic planning to you. All of you who bump your gums about immediacy and "demand explanations now" need to get off your high dudgeon's and walk a mile in the shoes of some business managers, which is in effect all that a Government (ANY govmnt) is doing. No one is infallible or blessed with omnipotent vision but I'd rather have a government that has lofty goals than receive the diktat of a remote body that places one region above all others. Merry Fracking Christmas to you all!

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24

Deleted

Wednesday, December 7, 2011 at 04:53 PM

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23

Mario Antoinette

Wednesday, December 7, 2011 at 03:53 PM

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