The City of Edinburgh Council voted to back mediation between Edinburgh Trams company Tie and its lead contractor Bilfinger Berger today. Jenny Dawe today tabled the Emergency Motion on the Edinburgh Tram Project, which would see the Council leader "take all appropriate steps to facilitate mediation".
The two sides have been locked in a contractual dispute which has resulted in delays, cost overruns, and uncertainty about the viability of the original project.
Recent reports to council have suggested that a settlement between the two sides “appears unlikely”, a point borne out by the recent legal spat. If this final attempt fails then it is expected Tie will seek to scrap the existing contract.
Cllr Jenny Dawe said: "We want to end this dispute and get on with building a tram line for Edinburgh. Tie have kept councillors and officials informed of their strategy throughout this process and we have supported their position. However now, as recommendations are being prepared for Council to bring matters to a conclusion, it is appropriate for the Chief Executive to engage with the contractor in a final attempt to secure the best deal for the city."
Richard Jeffrey, Chief Executive of Edinburgh Trams, said: "We are working hard to bring the differences to a conclusion and have kept Council fully appraised of the issues and how we are dealing with them. With the endorsement of our Board we have invited the BSC consortium to explore mediation to reach a conclusive and decisive solution. So that I don't inhibit that process I am not in a position to say more about our invitation."
"We are now in a critical stage for making a decision to move forward and we are in full agreement with the Council on the steps being taken to find a resolution."
Edinburgh Trams Emergency Emotion
(i) the Chief Executive wrote to the Managing Director of Bilfinger Berger Civil UK Limited on 16 November to offer a meeting with Council officers;
(ii) the Council Leader and Chief Executive later that day met the Cabinet-Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth at which they discussed the possibility of mediation as a means of progressing the tram project;
(iii) the Council Leader will take all appropriate steps to facilitate mediation and asked the Chief Executive to take forward a mediation proposal;
(iv) the Chief Executive subsequently discussed with the Chief Executive of tie the potential for using mediation or any other form of dispute resolution; and
(v) the Tram Project Board on 17 November agreed to support an independent mediation process.
Council instructs the Chief Executive to continue to make preparations with tie and BSC for mediation or other dispute resolution processes.
Council requests that the Chief Executive report back on progress in these matters.
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Trams Mediation
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The possibility of mediation in the long standing trams dispute between Transport Initiatives Edinburgh (Tie) and the contractors is to be welcomed as an outbreak of common sense on the side of the Council who have constantly been dragging their feet over this matter. But what is important is to ensure that the current outstanding problems of pollution are addressed peoperly by the Council who seem to be adopting a policy of doing everything they can to avoid addressing the problem. To date the Council have failed completely to take any action to examine the problem of particulates pollution which has dramatically increased in areas where traffic has been forced through residential areas rather than using main transit routes. It is a fact that particulates cause twice as many deaths as road traffic accidents and is more damaging to individuals than passive smoking - so why does Edinburgh City Council ignore the problem? Are they simply content to poison their residents?