According to Lib Dem councillor Kevin Lang, the statement made it obvious that the Scottish Government will not be paying for the new tram route.

However, transport convener Stephen Jenkinson regarded Fol’s response as “a bit of a fudge,” leaving up the possibility of funding the line as part of a regional project.

The proposed line from Granton to the Royal Infirmary and beyond has a cost of up to £2.9 billion, depending on the route. The Fol request enquired, “Does the Scottish Government intend to fund a new tramline in Edinburgh?”.

And the response was: “The Scottish Government has no intentions to fund a stand-alone extension of Edinburgh’s tram network, or to directly fund the business case work needed to make the case.

Tram is a local priority designated by the City of Edinburgh Council (CEC), which has only progressed the business case for expanding the current tram network.

“I can confirm that the existing (and potential future) tram network will be considered as part of the larger Edinburgh and South East Scotland Mass Transit project, which has received funding from the Scottish Government through the Bus Infrastructure Fund.”

Transport Scotland officials continue to collaborate with local and regional partners (including CEC) on this issue.”

The response contradicts earlier ministerial and official statements.

An internal Transport Scotland briefing delivered in the summer stated “support from the Scottish Government is not affordable in the current fiscal climate, nor in line with the recent recommendations of the tram inquiry” Last year, Transport Secretary Fiona Hyslop warned of the Scottish Government’s budget limitations and recommended Edinburgh council to “explore alternative funding avenues for tram within an overall mass transit scheme”.

Earlier this month, the Evening News reported that council officials were in talks with the UK Government’s National Wealth Fund about funding for the North-South tramline, however the council stressed that the fund’s participation was only advisory at this point.

CIr Lang stated, “No matter how many times you ask them, their response is always the same. The Scottish Government will not support the tram project. “Despite years of debate about a proposed north-south tram line, one simple question remains unanswered.

How is it paid for? The people of Edinburgh deserve to know where the money is coming from. However, ClIr Jenkinson stated that the Scottish Government’s response was not completely negative.

He stated: “It’s not a knockout punch. It’s somewhat of a fudge. We haven’t sought the Scottish Government for any money because we aren’t at that point of the project.

“What we’re focussing in at the moment is what we’re going to seek to deliver it, not how we’re going to deliver it – people are putting the cart before the horse.”

He stated that the transport committee would be requested next year to go on to the next step of the project, which was an outline business case.

“You can’t ask for money to deliver anything until your business plan is precise enough for people to commit to financing it, whoever they are. “The process we are going through right now has nothing to do with money.

We need to decide what we’re going to deliver and how much we anticipate it’ll cost.

The next step is to create an outline business case, and as part of that process, you must get funding to begin delivering on the project.”

He also stated that the North-South tramline was critical in connecting the Capital to the outlying districts. “It creates and allows for regional connectivity to Edinburgh that is currently unavailable.

“I have never seen the tram project as just an Edinburgh project. If you look at it just in the context of the benefits to Edinburgh in isolation I think that’s quite short-sighted.

“We have to remember in this whole thing that a lot of the people coming into Edinburgh to work or shop or whatever are coming from outside of Edinburgh.

So we’ve got to move people around Edinburgh more efficiently, but we’ve also got to provide solutions for people coming into Edinburgh.

Edinburgh is the kind of economic behemoth but we need to develop solutions regionally to make sure the system works.”

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