Last year, the newly-elected City of Edinburgh Council voted to press ahead with preparations for the tram extension (short of construction works), by allocating monies to draw up detailed plans in readiness for the tender process and to consult with residents, businesses and other stakeholders. At the same time, the Council halted the repair and renewal of Leith Walk (severely damaged during the previous, aborted attempt to build a tram line through LCCC’s area) which had progressed up Leith Walk at a snail’s pace for the last 7 years.

While the tender preparation process has continued in the background over the last few months we have now reached the consultation stage. In particular, the tram team will attend the next LCCC meeting on 16 April for a presentation and Q&A session. The meeting is open to the public and we would encourage local residents and businesses to attend.

Before that, there are a number of public information days during this”first-round” consultation:

• 22 March: Leith Theatre 10-6
• 3 April: McDonald Rd Library 10-4
• 12 April: Leith Community Education Centre 3-9
• 21 April: Ocean Terminal 12-5

In addition, a lot of pertinent information has been made available on this website: www.edinburgh.gov.uk/tramstonewhaven/

Leith Central CC has set up a short-life taskforce to study the drawings available at the information days and the papers published on the website, and we would encourage readers to do likewise, so that we all arrive at the LCCC meeting on 16 April as fully informed as possible, and ready to ask hard questions.