Tramworks scupper Princes St as vantage point for fireworks

Construction work finally got under way in Princes Street on Tuesday after a month-long dispute, but sections of the street may remain closed to pedestrians, even if work is suspended in August.

Jenny Dawe, the city council leader, visited the site yesterday and said she hoped the first tracks would be laid before the Festival.

She said a final decision on whether to call a halt to work during the event would be made after Easter. However, TIE, the council's tram development company, told The Scotsman the lines along the centre of Princes Street might not be completed by then.

The fireworks concert is watched by tens of thousands of people, with Princes Street one of the main vantage points. This year's event, on Sunday, 6 September, will feature some of Handel's most famous works.

Jonathan Mills, the director of the Edinburgh International Festival, said new vantage points were planned. "We do not yet know the details of what will and will not be possible on Princes Street," he said.

"We will be working closely with the city council to ensure that if Princes Street is not available as a pedestrian area, then other viewing opportunities will be provided.

"We will make sure it is not just from Princes Street you can see the fireworks. Inverleith Park might play a larger role than in the past."

Ms Dawe said: "No decision has been taken to change the initial decision that work will be suspended on Princes Street during the Festival. The final decision will be taken some time after Easter, once we have seen how work is progressing."

She said construction work in Princes Street was only one or two weeks behind schedule, because some work had continued during the dispute. The Scotsman has revealed this included test drilling, and the main programme was not due to have got under way until last week.

Ms Dawe admitted there may be further disputes between TIE and the construction consortium led by the German firm Bilfinger Berger, but these could be minimised by closer working in the future.

The agreement reached last Friday, enabling work to progress in earnest, includes the creation of a new project management panel, in which senior operations staff from both sides will meet weekly.

The dispute is believed to have centred on separate, late-running work to divert underground pipes and cables from the tram route between Edinburgh airport and Newhaven. TIE said yesterday that this may not be completed until the summer – some six months late.

Meanwhile, work to remove the first six inches of road surface from Princes Street, which started on Tuesday, is due to be completed next week. Trenches 3ft deep will then be dug to accommodate foundations on which the tracks will be laid.

TIE has not said when the first tracks, which were delivered last year, will be laid. It is likely to trumpet the event as the first tangible evidence that trams – due in July 2011 – are on their way.

Ms Dawe said the council would decide next month whether to postpone the second phase of the tram network, between Roseburn and Granton.