Edinburgh should heed business support for tram expansion - Donald Anderson
Great cities need great organisations. Edinburgh’s Chamber of Commerce is increasingly finding its voice in speaking up for business.
Current Chief Executive Liz McAreavey, and the team she has built, deserve huge credit for restoring the Chamber after a near death experience under a previous regime which nearly put the chamber out of business.
The Chamber was founded in 1785 and has been the voice of business more than 240 years.
Just this week the Chamber has spoken out in partnership with Glasgow Chamber of Commerce on the need for devolution of powers to our two city regions that are the engines of growth for the Scottish Economy.
But it’s the full-throated support for the Edinburgh Trams that has seen the Chamber speak up loudest for the future of our city and city economy.
The Chamber supported “keeping Edinburgh’s tram ambitions on track”. I
t spoke up for the city’s poor saying there was a “compelling case” for a new north-south tram route, which “would improve access to employment, healthcare and housing for tens of thousands of people, including many living in some of the city’s most deprived communities”.
It warned that failing to invest in the wider tram network would, “leave a major part of Edinburgh’s future growth story without the connectivity it needs”.
The view of business is clear. Edinburgh should both tackle deprivation and secure the future growth the city and the country needs by investing in trams.