Dawe tells tram bosses to reveal figures for project

Published on Monday 25 October 2010 19:35

COUNCIL leader Jenny Dawe has ordered tram bosses to come clean about the figures used to support the project.

&#149 Jenny Dawe in the tram on Princes Street

The refreshed business case for the creation of Transport Edinburgh Limited (TEL) has been kept under wraps - even from the city's councillors and the Lothian Buses board - due to concern that some of the figures would be in breach of commercial confidentiality.

But council leader Jenny Dawe has now stepped in and ordered that the information is made publicly available, with only some figures that relate specifically to Lothian Buses being blacked out.

She admitted that too many decisions have been made on the word of officials on the council and at tram firm TIE.

The report is expected to show how the tram can still make money even if it only goes from the airport to Picardy Place/York Place.

Councillor Dawe said: "I have now seen a copy of the business case. I have looked at it and I think that over 90 per cent of it could be made public. There is a couple of tables that will be cause for concern but we are now checking to see why people might cite commercial confidentiality as a reason for not making it public.

"But the business case does stack up and it does still make financial sense. There is a good case made for delivering it incrementally. "Provided we are not giving away commercially confidential information there is a strong argument for allowing that."

At a council meeting earlier this month, administration councillors agreed that updated details of the business case would be made publicly available in December, while all councillors would also be given full access to the figures on the understanding that they give "written undertakings" not to disclose any sensitive information to the public.

But Cllr Dawe's call goes one step further and will mean everyone will be able to see the figures, apart from those that relate to Lothian Buses passenger numbers.

When asked why she felt the figures should be in the public domain, Cllr Dawe said: "Largely because many councillors feel they are maybe being asked to take a lot on the word of officers that they perhaps don't know very well. "It is such a major project that it is important we get the chance to properly scrutinise."

An Edinburgh Trams spokesman said that an updated business case is to be presented to councillors, and therefore be made public, in December.