Watchdog to give verdict on Merseytram fiasco

Jan 16 2008 by David Bartlett, Liverpool Daily Post

THE Audit Commission will tomorrow publish its long awaited report into the collapse of the Merseytram scheme.

The government watchdog report will highlight the £56m-plus that was spent on the project without a yard of track actually being laid.

It is also likely to examine the breakdowns in communication between the region’s public transport authority, Merseytravel, and Mersey-side’s five councils, especially Liverpool City Council.

Merseytram was scrapped in November 2005 after then Transport Secretary Alistair Darling refused to hand over the £170m the Government had committed to Line One between Liverpool city centre and Kirkby.

He said Liverpool and Knowsley councils should have unconditionally agreed to underwrite any cost overruns. However, they would only promise an additional £24m, and said it would have been illegal to agree to fit the bill, come what may.

During a High Court challenge into the Government’s decision it emerged that former Liverpool Council chief executive Sir David Henshaw had sent a confidential report about the tram prepared for councillors in Liverpool to the Department of Transport before it had been considered by elected members in the city. This is likely to be mentioned in the report, as will Liverpool Council wrangling over whether Line One should go to Kirkby or to the airport at Speke.

There were constant rumours at the time of personality clashes between Sir David and the chief executive of Merseytravel Neil Scales, though this was publicly denied by both men.

The breakdown in the relationship between Sir David and then council leader Mike Storey also happened around this time in late 2005. Labour leader Cllr Joe Anderson said: “It’s disappointing that every-body knows there was a very public and damaging wrangle between Merseytravel and the council which resulted in great legal expense.”

He said there had clearly been a determination by elements at the council to stop the trams. “In my view if we are going to resurrect the trams we have to work together and the council has to be 100% behind it.”

Cllr Storey, now the city’s regener-ation leader, said: “I always thought it was a major tragedy that we were not successful in getting the tram.

“There are lessons to be learnt which are that at an early stage it should not have been about person-alities but about people working to-gether. I don’t think the Government wanted the tram and were looking for excuses.We gave them a perfect excuse.” He said he wanted a “clear signal” of support from Government before kick-starting the project again.

Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly then said she was willing to offer the £170m again, plus interest, if it can be proved the scheme offers value for money and has the backing of the councils involved.

The cost benefit ratio of Line One is now thought to stand at 2:1 (£2 of benefit for every £1 spent) – an improvement on when the scheme was scrapped two years ago.

The main factor behind this is the proposal by Everton FC to move their ground from Goodison Park to Kirkby.

DON’T miss tomorrow’s Daily Post for the first full details of the Audit Commission’s findings.

davidbartlett