Tram contributions: 'It appears to have seriously miscalculated'

Published on Wednesday 10 June 2009 10:08

IT must be of some concern to the council that it appears to have seriously miscalculated the contribution from developers to fund the tram line.

Its inability to proceed with the Granton spur was almost solely down to the halting of development in the area – largely due to the recession – and the subsequent drop in developer contributions.

But even on the main line it is now running into problems. Today's news that it will only receive 1.4 million from Henderson Global, which is redeveloping the St James Centre – rather than the 7m or 8m estimated – is a further body blow, even though the company has a valid argument that it already had a site there and was not therefore seeking to cash in on any increase in business from trams.

In recent months the council has also been forced to strike a poorer than anticipated deal with Tiger, which is redeveloping Haymarket – accepting 2.5m rather than 4m – and finally agreed to waive a contribution from Deramore, the developer behind a new 40m hotel in Princes Street.

So it is having to borrow the money against future contributions to make up the shortfall.

But it seems if it is to raise the money required it will either have to accept more realistic sums than first anticipated or adopt a tougher negotiating stance when granting planning permission for future developments which will benefit from being near the line.

Jobs optimism

ALTHOUGH the general unemployment figures for Edinburgh are somewhat poorer that they have been for some years it is pleasing to see that only two of the city's largest employers – Royal Bank of Scotland and BT – have actually shed jobs in the past year.

And although we are far from out of the woods yet, with the fallout from the collapse of parts of the financial sector not yet over and the recession expected to go on until at least the end of next year, there is optimism that the situation may not deteriorate to the levels that some had forecast. Such is the diversity of employment in the Capital that there is hope that overall we can ride out the worst of the slump.

But the situation remains volatile, so it is imperative that monitoring of the employment situation continues – and as the Capital remains the country's economic driver both central and local government must be involved in this, and they must be ready to take action if help is required.