Council officers recommend ditching the northern part of the proposed tram route while making the southern part of the route, from the city centre to Edinburgh BioQuarter, a “priority”.
But by “priority” the council is still at the stage of framing the business case and it will take some years before any spade is put in the ground.
Defending the administration against any criticism for “kicking the can down the road”, Transport Convener, Stephen Jenkinson, said that the city needs a “grand and bold vision” for Edinburgh and a mass transit system. He said if anyone has caused any delay it would be the Liberal Democrats on the council who have been both “pro and anti-tram for as long as I can remember”.
The council will hear next week about the detailed findings of the Strategic Business Case stage of the project originally envisaged to extend the tram from Granton to Bioquarter north-south across the city.
The funding question will, according to officers, be solved by waiting for SEStransit to catch up with Edinburgh Council. The body might then include the tram in a wider regional scheme, and it is suggested that the best way forward is to progress the case only for a tram extension from the city centre in a southerly direction to the Infirmary and BioQuarter.
This part of the route will “complement the South Suburban Railway feasibility work currently being advanced by Transport Scotland and Network Rail”. The feasibility study, which was only ordered last week, will investigate how passenger services could be reintroduced on the South Suburban line using tram-trains.
Northern route
On the northern route the transport convener has eventually made a choice from the two options – and said that he favours the Roseburn Path route, and not the route over the historic Dean Bridge with all the engineering challenges that would entail. He had not previously wanted to say publicly what his personal view was until after the consultation ended and the SBC was prepared.
He said: “I have quite purposely held my peace until the appropriate time.”
He continued: “I’m absolutely convinced that we need a grand and a bold vision for Edinburgh and for the Lothian region, when it comes to mass transit, and by that I mean tram.
“I believe that the Granton to Bioquarter project is strategically important for the city. I believe that we should take the tram from Granton south down through the Roseburn Path to Princes Street.
“I believe that we should take the tram from Princes Street south down through to the Bio Quarter, as detailed in the report.
“I believe in the southern section we should coordinate with the work that’s currently underway on the South Suburban railway line. I think I’ve always said that these projects have the opportunity of complementing each other. I think the tram-train technology is interesting, and I certainly think that it’s something that should be considered as part of the wider piece of work.”
He also said that he feels the loop in the tram line – the part between Granton and Newhaven which has never been included in recent proposals – should be closed. He thinks if there is a complete loop eventually there will be “resilience in the network” and the closure we have just experienced on Princes Street might not happen in the future.
He also commented that the tram is necessary to maximise the economic development opportunities in the north of the city and at Granton Waterfront, and in the south where life sciences will be the focus. But it seems that politics could get in the way of his personal view. He said that he only has two Labour Party members on the Transport Committee and so getting what he wants passed at committee will be difficult.
He said: “When it comes to what I think will actually happen, that’s where things start to change. There are undoubtedly challenges with some of the routes, I would say more political rather than technical. (Although there are technical challenges with a significant engineering project, as you can imagine.) So, what what we are proposing to do as a body and as a council, is focus our efforts on the the southern leg of tram, coordinate where necessary with the the work that’s ongoing on the South Suburban Railway.”
The Granton Waterfront Strategic Business Case produced for the council in October 2021 mentioned tram 10 times – as well as the City Mobility Plan which prioritises public transport.
Housing at Granton Waterfront has been built, with more planned, on the basis that a tram would be along soon.
Now some five years on the tram is nowhere near the drawing board as yet.
FUNDING
Cllr Jenkinson explained that how to pay for the tram extension was something he had been asked by opposition groups many times. He said: “I don’t think that the taxpayers, the citizens of Edinburgh, should directly fund this project going forward.
“The costs that we’re talking about are significant. I think any local authority in isolation would struggle to to fund such a significant piece of infrastructure delivery – never mind the actual construction costs.
“I’m talking just now about the ongoing delivery of the business cases.
“So, as there is a strategic piece of work underway through SEStransit, which is part of Sestran, which is the Southeast Scotland Regional Transport Partnership. This is, in my mind, a project of regional strategic significance. Therefore, it’s right and proper that this project is considered as part of that wider piece of work.” He confirmed that he thinks this piece of work will report back probably in Spring 2027 and he is confident that this will ultimately help the council to progress the tram proposal. He also confirmed he sits on the SEStran board.
In the City Mobility Plan, the Transport Convener wrote: “What is good for public transport is good for Edinburgh. Investing in mass-rapid transit in the shape of tram network expansion and bus priority will support this growth, and act as a catalyst for regional regeneration.”
Cllr Stephen Jenkinson clearly still believes this. He explained that around 30% of Scotland’s GDP is generated from Edinburgh which has about 10% of the country’s population, and that “what is clear is that the population growth in Edinburgh and Glasgow is only going in one direction”. said on Tuesday: “I’ve said many times, doing nothing is not an option. Throwing more buses at the problem won’t make things better, it will only make things worse.
“I’ve always believed that the projects that we’re tabling, and certainly the expansion of the mass transit solution for Edinburgh, is a project of national strategic importance.
“After the recent issues that we’ve had around the fire on Princes Street, and the associated disruption, what that’s highlighted to me, is the critical importance of public transport in in Edinburgh, and particularly the tram.
“Certainly, it hasn’t been lost on me that many of the opponents of the the Trams to Newhaven project very quickly turned into converts when unfortunately the tram wasn’t servicing citizens, businesses in Leith and Newhaven for a period of seven weeks.
“So we do have to have a resilient public transport system, and we do really need a citywide multimodal network.”
SNP council group leader, Lesley Macinnes, said to The Edinburgh Reporter: “We understand the importance of the southern part of the tram route. Connecting people into the hospital and the BioQuarter is of vital importance, particularly when you link that into the existing tram and the successfully delivered tram extension route down to Newhaven.
“We recognise the difficulties attached to the northern part of the route and the concerns that that’s caused in the local communities, particularly around the Roseburn Path and the technical difficulties of delivering the Orchard Bree option. We recognise the difficulties that we’ve got about it at the moment. We believe that investment in the southern part is a more straightforward option at the moment, but can still help to deliver all of the benefits that we’ve already seen in the extension of the tram route and the importance that that can have to that part of the city.”
