The Rt. Honourable the Lord Hardie, Chairman of the Edinburgh Tram Inquiry has today (11 December) announced the order of events for his investigation into what went wrong with the planning and construction of Edinburgh’s Trams project.
The order of events is contained within the official Edinburgh Tram Inquiry website launched today.
Announced in June this year, the Inquiry continues to make progress into establishing why the Edinburgh Trams project incurred delays, cost considerably more than originally budgeted for, and delivered less, with a view to making recommendations as to how major tram and light rail infrastructure projects of a similar nature might avoid such failures in future.
On 7 November, the Scottish Government converted the Inquiry from a non-statutory inquiry to a statutory inquiry which allows Lord Hardie to compel individuals and organisations to co-operate with his inquiry.
The launch of the website is a key milestone in the establishment of the inquiry. The website will provide a one stop shop for all interested parties to keep up to date with the Inquiry’s progress.
Details on the website include an overview of the purpose of Inquiry, an explanation of the process involved, and information on the team that has been appointed to support Lord Hardie. It also contains full contact details for the Inquiry.
Lord Hardie is currently in the Preliminary Investigation stage that includes retrieving and reviewing documents in order to scope what future investigative work is required and meeting with some of the key personnel involved in the planning and construction phase of the Edinburgh Trams project.
Referring to the website and the progress of his inquiry to date, Lord Hardie commented: “I am pleased that anyone interested can readily view the edinburghtraminquiry.org website, gaining an overview of our objectives and how I have structured the Inquiry. This includes outlining the stages at which documents are being reviewed, written evidence can be submitted and hearings held.
“As Chairman of the Edinburgh Tram Inquiry, I am determined to ensure we conduct a robust, timely and effective inquiry and one that will get the answers the public demands to ensure lessons are learnt for future major infrastructure projects.”
Lord Hardie has also confirmed that as part of the inquiry process he will in due course be keen to hear from members of the public, local businesses, developers and other interested parties on the consequences of the cost over-runs, delays and reduction in scope. At the appropriate time there will be a request for evidence from members of the public affected by the delay and by the restricted nature of the project that was ultimately delivered. In the meantime those affected should consider joining together with others similarly affected to prepare written evidence about their experiences.