More funding to be made available for Edinburgh Trams Inquiry

Will it ever end? That’s the question being asked of the Edinburgh Trams Inquiry after it was announced that an additional £500,000 is being made available as part of the Scottish Budget brining potential costs up to £12.5 million. The far reaching inquiry – which was due to reach its conclusions quickly to help inform decisions for any future extensions was first announced in 2014 and it has now been three and a half years since the public hearings came to an end. And yet there still seems to be no signs of it ending.

The Edinburgh Tram Inquiry was set up to establish “why the Edinburgh Tram project incurred delays, cost more than originally budgeted and through reductions in scope delivered significantly less than projected”. Lord Hardie was appointed to lead the Inquiry and after trawling through the evidence and listening to public hearings, it was expected he would produce a report.

But now some three and a half years since the last evidence was heard that report is still awaited and it seems to be a race between the results of the Inquiry being released and the Trams to Newhaven extension project opening.

A spokesperson from the Inquiry said: “Lord Hardie’s remit is to conduct a robust inquiry and he has made it clear it will take as long as is necessary to get the answers the public wants in relation to the issues surrounding the Edinburgh Trams project. The inquiry’s evidential database contains over 3m documents that have to be carefully considered, which is an extensive but vital task. We continue to make good progress towards producing the final report and recommendations, which will be published as soon as practicable. The Inquiries Act 2005 obliges the chair to consider cost at all times since it is funded from the public purse. Throughout the process all efforts have been made to ensure the Inquiry delivers best value.”

Transport Scotland have confirmed that they will continue to support the Inquiry financially and that this will include an additional £500,000 in the 2022 budget. So far just over £12 million has already spent on it.

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1 Response to More funding to be made available for Edinburgh Trams Inquiry

  1. Geoff IoM says:

    What a farce! Just imagine how much better that money could have been spent; for instance, on further extending the tram system. Still, as always, there’ll be rich pickings for lawyers.

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