Forth Ports faces court over £1 million street works bill

Published on Monday 17 May 2010 11:30

COUNCIL bosses are set to mount a £1 million legal action against developer Forth Ports after it failed to pay for works on a busy city street.

Transport chiefs want to alter the junction of Trinity Road and Lower Granton Road to cope with the increased levels of traffic resulting from the development of the city's waterfront.

According to the council, Forth Ports was due to fund work up to the value of 1m as part of its role as the developer of properties at Western Harbour.

But failure to secure the funds means the council is now set to launch a legal challenge against the property developer. The organisation has admitted it has not paid the cash, arguing that it wanted to wait until the economic climate improved.

The city council wants to re-align a short section of Lower Granton Road, improving the layout of the junction with Trinity Crescent and Trinity Road.

The new junction layout will incorporate four signalised pedestrian crossings, including a direct link from the Trinity cycleway to McKelvie Parade.

It is hoped that improving the junction will ease congestion, which has steadily worsened due to the growing number of residential developments and the opening of a nearby supermarket. The work had been expected to begin last summer, but has been put off due to the council's funding shortage.

At a meeting of the local authority's transport committee earlier this month it was agreed that it would pursue a legal challenge against Forth Ports. But the company – responsible for huge development plans on the shoreline – is seeking to negotiate with the council.

A spokesman for Forth Ports said: "We have been working with the council to resolve this issue.

"Our current position is that, given the current economic climate, this payment should be delayed until such time as the development market recovers."

Gordon Mackenzie, the city's transport convener, said: "Committee members were unanimous in calling for the director to take appropriate enforcement action to implement the terms of the Section 75 agreement relevant to Granton Harbour.

"He will report back on progress to the September committee."

Graham Chapman, chairman of Leith Harbour and Newhaven Community Council, said a dispute between the two bodies would only hamper the mass development.

"The last thing people and businesses want is Forth Ports and the council at loggerheads," he said. "We really need to get this moving and everyone has to work together.

"It was going super for a while, and more people were coming in because they could see something was going on. But now it has stopped suddenly and it has to get back on track. The road should be realigned, it needs it, and it is going to be developed anyway."

• www.edinburgh.gov.uk

• www.forthports.co.uk