S3M-243.1 Ms Wendy Alexander: Transport—As an amendment to motion (S3M-243) in the name of John Swinney, leave out from "endorses" to end and insert "notes that the Edinburgh Trams project and EARL were approved by the Parliament after detailed scrutiny; further notes the report of the Auditor General for Scotland on these projects and, in light thereof, (a) calls on the Scottish Government to proceed with the Edinburgh Trams project within the budget limit set by the previous administration, noting that it is the responsibility of Transport Initiatives Edinburgh and the City of Edinburgh Council to meet the balance of the funding costs and (b) further calls on the Scottish Government to continue to progress the EARL project by resolving the governance issues identified by the Auditor General before any binding financial commitment is made and to report back to the Parliament in September on the outcome of its discussions with the relevant parties."
None of this strikes me as a ringing endorsement of either project. Arguably, it simply means pouring more money into both schemes until it becomes even more apparent that neither project can be delivered without much more financial pain. And, if you believe yesterday's Evening News (here) about the £10 million black hole, the Edinburgh Council is in no financial position to meet any extra costs.
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Edinburgh financial crisis? The report says that the Labour administration left the budget in surplas. Sounds like the new guys suddenly realising that running Edinburgh is difficult and getting their excuses in early
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