Trams

Good morning. The day before Christmas Eve and I think I've got this up and running so here goes.Been a busy week at the Council tying up all the loose ends before the Christmas break - and of course fitting in all the inevitable seasonal events: locally, there was a particularly nice event held at the new Edinburgh's Telford College, based in the Waterfront, and organised by the Granton Churches Network. This is an organisation involving all the local churches in Granton (of which there are many) which aims to create physical and spiritual links between the traditonal community on the south side of West Granton Road and the new, emerging community in the Waterfront. The event was a well-attended Christmas Carol Concert which crossed all the generations and then mince pies and coffee. A very nicely judged event. And of course, the main event at Council was the near-unanimous decision to approve the Business case for the trams. I was surprised my erstwhile colleague (now representing the SNP) spoke so vehemently against the trams. Our city is set to keep growing by 2%+ every year and without trams the current public transport system will not cope. It's self evident we need to have a new public transport system to complement the brilliant Lothian Buses whose passenger journeys are set to grow - even with the trams in place - from 108 million to 115 million. From my perspective too,the trams present North Edinburgh with a massive opportunity to reconnect with the city. Over the last 40 years North Edinburgh's population has slumped almost by half as people left looking for work. With the people goes infrastucture such as schools, buses etc. The regeneration of the Waterfront will bring back the people and the whole process will be stimulated by the trams - Granton won't be seen as an inaccessible, remote place. Instead, it will be place where people want to work and live and play. I think the SNP - in the interests of short term populism - are making a big mistake