Edinburgh Tram Line Extension Considered

Shelved plans to take Edinburgh's trams to Leith could be resurrected to link up with a major city centre development and avoid the need to ask Holyrood for renewed permission to complete the troubled network. Councillors will next week consider proposals to complete the tram line to Newhaven alongside a major redevelopment of the St James shopping centre. The council must commence construction on any new section of line one by 2021 before its legislative permission expires. The trams had a troubled inception beginning in 2007 with the election of a sceptical SNP administration at Holyrood, which froze public funding beyond that already agreed by the previous Labour administration. It culminated in a costly battle with developers Bilfinger Berger which plunged the council deeper into debt in order to complete a heavily truncated line to the city centre. The council is now amongst the most heavily indebted local authorities in Scotland, and the fiasco is currently the subject of a public inquiry. However, council officials believe investment in public transport could drive economic development and employment, and that "it may be appropriate at this time to consider the implications of extensions to the current Edinburgh tram network." They have called on councillors at next week's full council meeting to note the expiry dates associated with the completion of line one, and acknowledge the requirement for further design work and ground investigation survey work to integrate any future extensions to the tram network with the St James Quarter redevelopment and the Leith Programme projects. Officers are seeking permission to prepare a detailed assessment into the financial, business case, procurement and programme implications of extending the tram network and to report back to the council in late spring 2015. The council has until 2026 to complete phases two and three of the original proposed network, linking Granton to Newhaven and Ingliston to Newbridge. However, unlike phase one, where much of the land, permissions and infrastructure has already been procured, the work required to complete these phases is "significant", according council officials.