Edinburgh trams: official criticised by inquiry escapes sanction; legal action against advisers to go ahead

‘No further action required’ says council over senior official singled out by Lord Hardie

A senior Edinburgh council official who was heavily criticised in the report of the tram inquiry for "misleading" councillors over the troubled project has escaped any disciplinary sanction.

Inquiry chair Lord Hardie said Nick Smith, now the council's head of legal services, was responsible for inserting false statements into two reports in 2010 about the outcomes of the adjudications of disputes between contractors and the council's tram firm TIE. Lord Hardie added: “Clearly, on occasions, mistakes may occur in the drafting of reports, but that is not the situation because Mr Smith was aware that the statements were untrue.”

Mr Smith also sent an email to a new colleague advising that councillors must be kept on a "restricted info flow" on the project. Lord Hardie said this made him consider whether misleading reports to councillors were really the result of errors based on inaccurate information from TIE, as claimed, “or the result of a deliberate policy of withholding information”.

Trams works on Princes Street -- the project was millions over budget, years late and made the city the butt of many jokes. Picture: Neil Hanna

Now a council report responding to the inquiry findings says, without naming Mr Smith, that a "detailed confidential investigation" was carried out in line with the council’s disciplinary procedure. But it says: "Following completion of the investigation process, recommendations were considered by the Chief Executive who was satisfied that the process had been robustly conducted and concluded that there was no further action required."

Council sources said Mr Smith held a far more junior role at the time of the tram project and they expressed some surprise that more senior figures who would have been involved in preparation of the reports did not receive similar criticism from Lord Hardie.

Meanwhile, the council is expected to pursue legal action against a law firm over the advice it gave during the tram project. DLA Piper acted as legal advisers to TIE, the council's arms-length tram company, but it failed to highlight aspects of the contract for the project which later led to significant extra costs for the council.

The council began court proceedings against DLA in 2013, but they were suspended during the tram inquiry. The question of resuming the legal action is due to be discussed by councillors in private, but it is understood the case is likely to go ahead.

The tram project was millions over budget and years late by the time the first trams began operating in 2014. It brought massive disruption to the streets of Edinburgh; some shops went out of business; and the reputation of the city was damaged. The council says it broadly accepts Lord Hardie’s findings and it has apologised to those adversely affected by the project.

Council leader Cammy Day said: “We know that serious mistakes were made in the construction of the original tram line, which caused a great deal of disruption and concern for residents and businesses, as well as impacting the council’s reputation. Once again, I want to apologise for this."

But he said: “Since the start of the Tram Inquiry we’ve completed the line to Newhaven and launched passenger services, the success of which was down to the hard work of the in-house project team and partners. It’s also thanks to lessons learned from the first project, and our own improvements to project management and governance, communication and independent oversight.

“It’s worth noting too that in the nine years since the line between Edinburgh Airport and York Place was built, the service has flourished to become a hugely successful transport route for thousands of residents and visitors each day.”

And he said he was confident the council was capable of taking forward further extensions of the tram line.