Manifesto For Edinburgh Trams to Leith

Submitted by edg on Tue, 17 Apr '12 9.28pm

Edinburgh Lib Dems have not given up on building the troubled tramline to Leith. In its manifesto for next month's Edinburgh City Council election, the party said that it would "present a revised business case for the extension of the tram line down Leith Walk and consider the best way to get trams to Little France".

The policy proposal was announced as part of its 24-page manifesto, launched today by Edinburgh City Council leader Jenny Dawe and Scottish Liberal Democrat Leader Willie Rennie MSP.

Edinburgh's trams are due to be running between Edinburgh Airport and St Andrew Square/York Place in the city centre by the Summer of 2014 (see completion schedule).

The revised cost of the severely curtailed tramline has jumped from £540m to £776m (see trams costs).

The Scottish Government reluctantly provided £500 million toward the project, and having seen the project descend into fiasco, has said that further funding wouldn't be available for "another generation". 

Still this does not appear to have deterred the Lib Dems.

Here's the list of tram specific policies pulled from the transport section of the manifesto.

  • deliver quick, clean, reliable, commercial tram operations from Edinburgh Airport to the east end of York Place, by 2014 at the latest, with Lothian Buses as operator and trams fully integrated with buses, including through ticketing.
  • continue support to businesses for mitigation measures in relation to the ongoing tram works.
  • present a revised business case for the extension of the tram line down Leith Walk and consider the best way to get trams to Little France.
  • trial carrying bikes on trams within the first six months of service.
  • welcome and cooperate fully in any Public Inquiry into the tram project.
  • maintain Lothian Buses in public ownership and continue to support Lothian Buses in improving accessibility and sustainability across the network.

For more on the party manifestos for the election see Edinburgh's Political Parties.