A public inquiry into why Edinburgh's controversial trams were delayed and over budget has been given statutory powers after "a lack of co-operation".
The powers will allow inquiry chair and senior judge Lord Hardie to compel witnesses to participate and evidence to be produced.
Announcing the move under the Inquiries Act 2005, Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the lack of participation by some parties was "unjustifiable".
She said: "It was the view of the Scottish Government that a non-statutory inquiry with the co-operation of those with knowledge of the project was the simplest way to ensure the swift answers that people want.
"Lord Hardie has however now reported a lack of co-operation by some, which is clearly unjustifiable. I have therefore given the inquiry the statutory powers he has requested to ensure that the necessary evidence is secured and a robust final report produced.
"Lord Hardie has assured me that converting the inquiry to a statutory basis will not increase the costs and time required as he had intended to apply similar procedures. I continue to attach great importance to an inquiry that is quick, efficient and cost effective."
Trams began running in Edinburgh at the end of May after years of delays, spiralling costs and a lengthy dispute between the city council and its contractor.
Overall, the scheme to return trams to the streets of Scotland's capital has seen the construction of a line from Edinburgh Airport to York Place, costing about £776 million.
The inquiry is looking at the project, examining its governance, management and other areas to try to find out why it was delayed, and why it ''cost considerably more than originally budgeted for and delivered significantly less than was projected through reductions in scope'', according to its remit.
It will also consider the consequences of the failure to deliver the project on time and on budget, as well as making recommendations on how similar projects could avoid such problems in the future.
Lord Hardie said: "The inquiry was announced by the First Minister in June 2014 with the aim of establishing why the Edinburgh Trams project incurred delays, cost more than originally budgeted and through reductions in scope, delivered significantly less than projected.
"The inquiry was initially non-statutory but was converted to statutory by Scottish ministers following my request, to ensure it can be carried out thoroughly and efficiently and to allow me to produce a comprehensive, fair and balanced report.
"The inquiry is currently in the preliminary investigation stage, which includes retrieving and reviewing a large body of documentary evidence, scoping the work to be carried out, identifying potential witnesses, as well as securing sufficient staff and technical resources to manage material recovered."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article