Parties ‘must come together’ to complete trams

Published on Tuesday 11 October 2011 13:26

Those involved in Edinburgh’s trams project must “join together for the sake of the city” and ensure it is delivered, the council’s deputy leader said today.

Councillor Steve Cardownie, SNP group leader on Edinburgh City Council, said after years of disruption it would be a “kick in the teeth” if the tram line was not completed.

He spoke out after another local councillor, Gordon Mackenzie, questioned whether councillors on the board of tram firm Tie had the “right skill mix to properly scrutinise” the troubled project,

However, Mr Cardownie stressed that despite its problems, the trams project has to go forward.

He said today: “We must now deliver this tramway from the airport to St Andrew Square. It’s the least this people of this city deserve after years of disruption and after this money being spent.

“I hope we can all join together for the sake of the city and the sake of this country, and get this tram line into St Andrew Square because anything less than that would be a bigger kick in the teeth for the people of this city.”

Like Mr Mackenzie, the Nationalist said local politicians with no background in such major projects may not be the best people to scrutinise them.

He said: “Perhaps councillors who have not got that kind of expertise are not the best people to oversee projects of this nature.”

But Labour’s Lesley Hinds said she was “quite surprised” by Mr Mackenzie’s comments.

Ms Hinds, Labour’s transport spokeswoman on the City of Edinburgh Council, said: “We’ve discussed the trams project on many, many occasions on the council and its the first time I’ve heard him make any comment about himself or councillors not having the skills to sit on this board.”

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Comments

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Belle du Jeer

Saturday, October 15, 2011 at 03:58 PM

Comment removed by moderator

7

Belle du Jeer

Saturday, October 15, 2011 at 03:51 PM

OK, let's ߬ try \߬ again.

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6

Belle du Jeer

Saturday, October 15, 2011 at 03:38 PM

I suppose it'll do Greek, too. Μαρία Άννα Σοφία Καικιλία Καλογεροπούλου.

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Belle du Jeer

Saturday, October 15, 2011 at 03:30 PM

OK, this new site is confusing me. It'll display Cyrillic characters, but a good old ASCII line \n feed?

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Belle du Jeer

Saturday, October 15, 2011 at 03:26 PM

#1-3 I agree with all of you. Why are comments not allowed on the Tram Inquiry story? They should get Russia's Федеральная служба безопасности to do that. They have a good track record at these things.

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Alternative (High Octane) Fuel Head

Friday, October 14, 2011 at 01:17 PM

"...for the sake of the city..." Don't make me laugh. If this crowd of worthless political no-hopers actually gave two hoots about Edinburgh, they would never have started this insane project in the first place. Scrap the trams NOW!!!!

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Hazelkaye

Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 09:53 PM

It was the 'various parties' desperate, disparate and determined dogma to destroy and disrupt, which 'derailed' this whole project in the first place! DESPICABLE, to say the least!

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Euan_1

Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 06:24 PM

Despite what the two-faced Steve Cardownie now says, I still feel that the best way forward for this idiotic project would have been complete and total cancelation. The 'kick in the teeth' he mentions is going to be administered time and time again to the people of this city over the next 30 years through savage cuts to services and the almost-certain slow, sorry decline of Lothian Buses, a company systematically bled dry all to pay off the VAST sums of valuable money borrowed by our city to pay for this farce.

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