Edinburgh Trams Chief Quits

Submitted by edg on Wed, 3 Nov '10 7.53am

Edinburgh's troubled trams project has suffered another setback. Trams chief David Mackay, who is also Chairman of Transport Edinburgh and Lothian Buses, announced today that he is quitting from his position as Chair of all three organisations. With immediate effect.

The sudden announcement comes at a time when the trams project - scheduled for completion in 2012 - is bogged down in a contractual dispute with Bilfinger Berger. Nobody is lined up to take Mackay's positions. A report on filling the vacancies will go to Council later this month.

Mackay has sharply criticised the German company that he has been contractually embroiled with, saying: "Bilfinger Berger was a delinquent contractor who scented a victim, who probably greatly underbid and who would use the contract to make life extremely difficult for the city. And they have done exactly that."

Explaining his decision for stepping down, he said in a statement:

“This project has been an enormously absorbing one and as such there was never going to be an entirely ideal time to step aside. In the past few months I have been keen to see a number of milestones set in place and this I have now done. I believe that for every Chair there comes an important juncture when the most powerful action you can take is to pass the controls to a successor and to then watch that organisation develop further under a new champion.

“The last few years have been stimulating and challenging and I believe that considerable progress has been made across many fronts and particularly, on Trams, where our imperative to protect the public purse has been notably successful."

“The time has now come when it is appropriate for me to move on which should allow me to refocus my energies on to a better, and probably much overdue, calmer work/life balance."

“I would particularly like to pay tribute to the many colleagues and peers I have worked with and those at Edinburgh Trams in particular who have shown remarkable resilience and energy in the face of what has been at times, a very difficult and complex situation.”

Appointed as Chair of Edinburgh Trams two years ago after Willie Gallagher's resignation, David Mackay has overseen the recruitment of the Richard Jeffrey as Chief Executive, and the subsequent realignment of the Edinburgh Trams organisation.

In January 2010 Mackay became Chairman of Lothian Buses, steering it towards the goal of creating an integrated public transport company (TEL) for Edinburgh.

Leader of the City of Edinburgh Council, Councillor Jenny Dawe, said: “I am obviously disappointed to be losing the drive, commercial expertise and commitment which David brought to his chairmanship of Transport Edinburgh, Lothian Buses and Tie. However, I would like to express my sincere thanks to David and pay tribute to the pivotal role he has played on this enormously important project for the city."

Referring to the timing of the decision Dawe said: "I was aware that we were unlikely to retain David until full project delivery and fully appreciate his reasons for standing down at this point. Urgent steps will be taken to ensure that we build upon the very substantial foundation that David Mackay has built.”

Councillor Gordon Mackenzie, Transport Leader for the City of Edinburgh Council, added: “David has been a critical figure in ensuring that we get best value for the public purse and has been a formidable chairman on our behalf throughout the negotiations with our contractors. There is never an ideal time for a Chairman of David’s calibre to step aside, but with the appointments of Richard Jeffrey and Ian Craig, I believe that he leaves Tie, TEL and Lothian Buses in a much stronger place.”

David Mackay showed considerable courage in taking on the chairmanship of the highly unpopular Edinburgh Trams project.   It was, as he has hinted, a poisoned chalice from the start..   The real villain in the piece is really the incompetent Edinburgh Council who signed a contract while failing to appreciate that their costings and planning work had been hopelessly inadequate.   Bilfinger Berger almost certainly knew from their experience that they were dealing with a bunch of novices and assumed that the Scottish Government would bail out the project as has happened with so many similar projects in other countries.

David Mackey deserves sympathy at being in an impossible position, but perhaps he recognises that this was possibly one challenge too far - even for a man of his experience.   As for the Council , they should work now to bring the project to a halt as the money runs out and leave the option open to restart it once money becomes available, possibly ten years hence, and once a total revision of the project has been made to address the massive problem of pollution of residential areas caused by forcing traffic off main streets and into residential areas which has been caused by incompetent planning.

‎They were warned in 2005 & 2006 & 2007 that it was an ill conceived budget Greenwash.

Countless professionals called it a political vanity project.

The Federation of Small Business championed a tram project that was FREE to the public purse.

"The political background was unsettled. The SNP was anti-tram. Labour had pushed, Iain Gray, who was a great promoter of trams, and the LibDems with Tavish Scott were pro-tram. TIE was negotiating the contract towards ...the preferred bidder stage.The political pressures were gigantic to get it done before it could be knocked off the rails." David MacKay.

That explains the cause of the mess. Political pressure from Labour to sign a contract that could not be cancelled. That was also the cause of the Parliament building fiasco. Political pressure to ensure Calton Hill was not the site and vanity in rejecting a project in Leith at £40 million.

Labour Party..Guilty.
Iain Gray..Guilty.
Tavish Scott.. Guilty.

In todays Prime Ministers Questions an English MP sought support for a Trolleybus project in his constituency.

Now there's an idea.

No rails.

No utility diversion.

Flexible in the event of emergency.