'Litany of avoidable failures' in Edinburgh tram project

The delayed and over-budget Edinburgh tram project had a "litany of avoidable failures", the chairman of an inquiry has said as its long-awaited report into the transport system was released.

The inquiry was set up in 2014 to examine why the scheme went significantly over-budget - with the cost of £776 million more than double the initial sum earmarked - as well as dropping one of the two initial planned lines and being delivered years later than first planned.

Retired judge Lord Hardie, who chaired the inquiry, said: "The inquiry process has been thorough and robust, but also complex, with literally millions of documents that had to be carefully reviewed and detailed contractual issues to investigate.

"This work has been time-consuming but necessary to produce a report which not only provides answers to what went wrong with the Edinburgh Trams project, but also clear recommendations for future transport projects.

"What is clear from the inquiry's work is that there was a litany of avoidable failures on the parts of several parties whose role it was to ensure that public funding was spent effectively and to the benefit of Scotland's taxpayers, and that the Edinburgh Trams project was delivered efficiently.

"Had a significant and lasting impact on the lives and livelihoods of Edinburgh residents"

The cost of and time taken by the inquiry itself has become a focus for criticism.

When he set it up almost a decade ago, days after the trams started finally started running three years later than planned, then first minister Alex Salmond told MSPs he expected it to be "swift and thorough".

Public hearings began in 2017 and concluded the following year, with the report published on Tuesday sent to the printers in April.

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