Funding request draws blank with government
By Steven Vass, Deputy Business Editor

THE company tasked with operating trams in the capital is to ask the Scottish government and Edinburgh council for an additional £10 million. The money is so it can make preparations to extend the network to the southeast of the city.

Transport Initiatives Edinburgh (TIE) hopes to persuade finance secretary John Swinney to change his pledge to spend "not a penny more" than the government's original £500m investment. It seeks money that would contribute to two extensions.

The southeast extension, Line 3, would run from the city centre past the university King's Buildings to Little France. Line 1B would run from Roseburn to Granton on the waterfront.

TIE already has the support of Edinburgh council, both for the initial £10m and further public money for the extensions. A senior council member hinted that the government might be preparing to soften its position on funding, but this has been strongly denied.

Willie Gallagher, executive chairman of TIE, who will address the Scottish Transport Conference 2008 in Glasgow on Tuesday, said the government's position was unrealistic if it wanted to build an integrated transport infrastructure for Edinburgh and the surrounding area.

He said: "So you are never going to spend another penny on light rail in Scotland again? The government inherited this position because of its political stance at the last election, but that has come and gone. The plan was always to build a network, not just a line. We need to find a way of moving the debate on."

TIE believes the £10m is necessary for feasibility studies and designs for Line 3, as well as the compulsory purchase powers granted by parliament.

Gallagher will use his speech to outline the progress the Siemens Bilfinger Berger consortium has made with Line 1A, which will run from Edinburgh airport to Leith when it opens in 2011.

But he will call for a "30 to 50-year blueprint" for the region that takes account of TIE's projected growth within the capital, such as a 40% rise in demand for public transport by 2030.

"There's not a public transport system in place that can deal with anything like that capacity," he said. "There's no plan to connect key areas that link into the city such as Dalkeith, Musselburgh or Portobello. There's no plan for Little France or its Edinburgh BioQuarter the planned life sciences development."

Gallagher said TIE was hoping that Line 3 would appear in the government's Strategic Transport Review (STR), due in the coming weeks. The review will outline the government's national priorities for public-sector investment. The total cost of Line 3 project was recently estimated at £320m.

Dave Anderson, Edinburgh council's director of city development, said the line's chances of making the STR depended on the government's view of the urgency of a new Forth road crossing. That project, recently costed at between £3 billion and £4bn, may be delayed following a re-examination of the bridge's cables.

Although the long-term position will not be clear until the cables are re-inspected in 2011-12, the government will have to decide whether to press ahead with the bridge in the STR.

Anderson said: "The government's position is constrained by its commitment to the additional Forth crossing. It probably has no option but to say publicly that TIE should be getting on with Line 1A.

"But behind the scenes, the government is recognising that Edinburgh's rivals all around Europe have tram systems and undergrounds. Once we know the shape of the Strategic Transport Review, ministers may be more inclined towards investigating Line 3."

Gallagher added that TIE planned to rewrite its business plan for Line 1B and would go to the government to discuss a shortfall if necessary. According to the most recent calculations, TIE is £57m short of the £90m cost of the extension.

A Scottish government spokesperson said: "The Scottish government has made it clear it will make available up to £500m for Edinburgh's trams. Development and funding of further tram lines is a matter for the city council and TIE."