Only a minority support new Edinburgh tram line in huge consultation response
Split over whether route should follow Roseburn Path or Orchard Brae
Edinburgh’s planned second tram line has won the support of only a minority of 12,000 people expressing their views, who were also split on which route it should take through the north of the city.
Only 40 per cent of the 11,425 responses to a city council consultation backed the north-south line.
Meantime, a separate poll of 1,209 people - who were chosen to be representative of the capital’s population - produced 47 per cent support for the scheme.
However, a majority of consultation respondents - 53 per cent - opposed the line, but only 19 per cent of those surveyed were against it.
Councillors are expected to decide on the next step for the £2.9 billion Granton to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and BioQuarter project in September after its full strategic business case has been completed.
Transport convener Stephen Jenkinson hailed it on Tuesday as “one of the most ambitious and forward-thinking transport schemes in the country” which he said would be vital to keeping the fast-growing city moving.
He said an extra 300 buses would be required otherwise, which was “not a long-term solution”.
However, he described the results as “fairly inconclusive”, with the figures also showing no consensus over two disputed route options.
There was 68 per cent opposition and 32 per cent support among consultation responses for using the Roseburn Path, a former railway line previously earmarked for trams which has become a popular walking and cycling route.
By comparison, there was 43 per cent support and 23 per cent opposition for that option among those polled.
Routing trams along Orchard Brae instead was opposed by 44 per cent and supported by 32 per cent in the consultation, but backed by 44 per cent and opposed by 20 per cent in the poll.
Mr Jenkinson, part of the council’s minority Labour administration, rejected opposition SNP calls for other options to be considered, as he said officials had already discounted them.
The rest of the proposed route is less contentious, with just over half of those in both the consultation and poll supporting the city centre to BioQuarter section.
Just under half in both also backed the line being extended, such as to Shawfair in Midlothian and/or Queen Margaret University in Musselburgh.
Mr Jenkinson said there appeared to have been a “degree of organisation” by campaigners to encourage people to reply to the consultation, which received one of the biggest responses for years.
A council report detailing the results said those who submitted their views were nearly twice as likely to own a bike than the Edinburgh average, with older men being over-represented.
Mr Jenkinson admitted funding for the project had to be secured, but challenged First Minister John Swinney describing it as a “local” scheme.
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