The Horse's Mouth
Edinburgh City Council has finally admitted what everyone else has known for a long time - the council has made a complete 'horse's ass' of the trams project.
We know this because the other end of the horse spoke yesterday - and admitted that the arm's length company (TIE) set up by the council to 'manage' the project - should never have existed in the first place.
The stunning admission came from council leaders in Edinburgh after they invited the Scottish government to come on board to help them clear up their own mess - via the national transport agency - Transport Scotland.
TIE - Transport Initiatives Edinburgh - will be sent to the knacker's yard and 60 staff will lose their jobs - though no one seems to be shedding any tears.
Edinburgh City Council's transport leader councillor Gordon Mackenzie said:
"With the benefit of hindsight Tie should never have been set up. It is obvious now that they were not up to the job of running a project like the trams.
With something like this it really should have been taken forward by Transport Scotland, as it has done with other major transport projects around the country."
So there we have it - and straight from the horse's mouth - the same horse by the way that has been 'managing' the equal pay debacle in Edinburgh.
All we need now is for Glasgow City Council to admit the error of its ways.
By scrapping its own controversial arm's length companies - such as Cordia - which have come in for a great deal of criticism about their lack of accountability and control.
We know this because the other end of the horse spoke yesterday - and admitted that the arm's length company (TIE) set up by the council to 'manage' the project - should never have existed in the first place.
The stunning admission came from council leaders in Edinburgh after they invited the Scottish government to come on board to help them clear up their own mess - via the national transport agency - Transport Scotland.
TIE - Transport Initiatives Edinburgh - will be sent to the knacker's yard and 60 staff will lose their jobs - though no one seems to be shedding any tears.
Edinburgh City Council's transport leader councillor Gordon Mackenzie said:
"With the benefit of hindsight Tie should never have been set up. It is obvious now that they were not up to the job of running a project like the trams.
With something like this it really should have been taken forward by Transport Scotland, as it has done with other major transport projects around the country."
So there we have it - and straight from the horse's mouth - the same horse by the way that has been 'managing' the equal pay debacle in Edinburgh.
All we need now is for Glasgow City Council to admit the error of its ways.
By scrapping its own controversial arm's length companies - such as Cordia - which have come in for a great deal of criticism about their lack of accountability and control.
