Calls for Edinburgh tram inquiry report to be published online rather than await potential autumn publication

Results of Lord Hardie’s £13 million investigation faces further hold-up – five years after last public evidence hearing

Demands have been made for the long-awaited Edinburgh tram inquiry report to be published online after officials admitted the “complex and lengthy” printing process might mean it won’t appear until September.

The admission comes two months after the inquiry announced on April 26 the report had been handed to a publishing company “and will be with them for several weeks”.

However, the officials refused to say how sizeable the document was or whether it would run to more than one volume.

The inquiry team said it was “hoped” the report would be ready “before the autumn” – more than nine years after then first minister Alex Salmond appointed former Lord Advocate Lord Hardie to conduct a “swift and thorough inquiry” into the tram line debacle.

But former Transport for Edinburgh chief executive Neil Renilson, who gave evidence to the inquiry, told The Scotsman: “I fail to understand how it can take six months to simply print a report. Why does it need to be printed on paper anyway?

"One click of the mouse and it could be on the internet instantaneously. This appears to be just yet another delaying tactic.”

Scott Arthur, the Labour transport convener of the City of Edinburgh Council, said: “This situation is beyond a joke. How can it possibly take six months to publish a report which has taken nine years to write? Is it being copied by monks on to parchment?

“If Lord Hardie has completed his deliberations, the Scottish Government now needs to intervene and place this report online immediately. Edinburgh deserves to know the truth.”

Iain Whyte, the council’s opposition Conservative group leader, said: “It seems that everything about trams and the subsequent inquiry is slow to be delivered and expensive.

"This sounds like the kind of printing and typesetting timescale you had in the pre-digital days of hot metal printing. Though even then, newspapers were produced for the next morning.

“I believe the public are more concerned about the cost of the inquiry and learning the findings rather than the quality of the glossy print run. After all, most people are likely to read it online. They should just get on with publishing it.”

The inquiry was ordered into why the ill-fated project was delayed by years and went hundreds of millions of pounds over budget, with only a fraction of the original scheme completed when trams finally started running in 2014.

The process is expected to cost some £13 million and has involved sifting through six million emails and other documents, while nearly 100 witnesses gave evidence during eight months of public hearings.

Edinburgh Tram Inquiry: Why is it being held? What stage has it reached? What went wrong with the project?

Warning letters were sent last year to those to be criticised by Lord Hardie in the report to give them an opportunity to respond, as Scotland on Sunday revealed in November.

A spokesperson for the inquiry said: “Lord Hardie’s final report remains with the publishers.

“Preparing a document of its size for publication is a complex and lengthy process. It is hoped it will be ready before the autumn.

“Holidays are having no impact on timelines.”

A Transport Scotland spokesperson said: “The inquiry is independent and its time and cost cannot be directly influenced by ministers. They look forward to receiving Lord Hardie’s findings when they are made available and will consider them once published.”