Ousted transport chief says full trams story will emerge

THE city’s outgoing transport leader said the full story of what happened would emerge during the public inquiry into the tram project.

Gordon Mackenzie said the inquiry would publicly reveal how the scheme came to be delayed and over budget.

He told the News; “You look at something like that [the tram project] and it would be very difficult to say that it couldn’t have been better handled . . . absolutely.

“There’s going to be a public inquiry and a lot will come out of that inquiry. I’m not talking just about myself but about the whole council, the professional advice we got, the advice from officials, the advice on the contract, the report that came up to the council.

“At we time we thought we made the right decision but we’ve subsequently been proved wrong. In terms of the handling I’m sure there are things we could have done better.”

He added: “A lot of businesses were affected by the trams and it’s really something where more could have been done.”