Trams U-turn will shut Princes Street for most of next year

Published on Sunday 7 December 2008 21:03

A FULL closure of Princes Street to make way for Edinburgh's tram works is to get the green light, despite the city centre being brought to a standstill by a previous attempt to reroute traffic from the thoroughfare.

Council officials are recommending pressing ahead with a shutdown for virtually all of next year in a bid to ensure work to lay tram tracks is completed as quickly as possible.

They are also refusing to ditch a controversial extension to the tram network to serve most of the capital's waterfront, despite a massive funding black hole.

The council's stance on Princes Street is yet another U-turn over the trams scheme, and one to which many city centre retailers are opposed.

Mounting delays, blamed on the botched start to works at The Mound in October, mean the council is likely to have to suspend works on Princes Street for the summer festivals, then restart again in the autumn.

The move – believed to be crucial to ensure the trams are up and running as planned in July 2011 – will trigger major concerns about the impact a full closure will have on retailers struggling to cope with the economic downturn.

Full details of the works are expected to be revealed this week. However, it emerged yesterday that business groups backed the idea of a full closure in the hope it would limit the length of time the city centre suffers major disruption.

Transport officials believe traffic can be successfully rerouted on to Queen Street to relieve pressure on George Street, which was brought to a standstill during the last, hastily scrapped closure.

One source said: "We never actually said the Princes Street closure wouldn't be going ahead. There was obviously a major review of what happened over The Mound.

"But it's simply untenable to try to do the work on Princes Street in phases. It could lead to a delay of six months in completing the whole project."

A spokesman for Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce said: "There's no doubt a full closure of Princes Street will cause major disruption, but getting the work done quicker is preferable."

Jane Wood, head of Essential Edinburgh, the firm responsible for revitalising the city centre, said: "An awful lot is going to depend on how the council communicates these measures to businesses."

The council is also expected to confirm it is pressing ahead with plans for a tram loop linking Roseburn with Edinburgh's waterfront area, in the hope that MSPs will agree to extra funds being released.

The Scottish Government is to be asked to sanction giving the council a share of future business rates expected to be generated by the huge regeneration of Granton, Newhaven and Leith.