Edinburgh City Council  is forging ahead with a multimillion-pound tram scheme, despite being the only local authority in the country to pursue one from scratch.

A council spokesman said there had been criticisms of the scheme which, according to Transport Initiatives Edinburgh would cost around £700m from its inception, but the Labour group was determined the tram would be realised. New tram schemes to fall by the wayside over the last 12 months include the Leeds Supertram, the Merseytram project, and South Hampshire's rapid-transit tram scheme, all of which failed to materialise after former transport secretary, Alistair Darling, blamed the proposals' spiralling costs. However, lines one and two of the Edinburgh tram scheme have been passed by the Scottish Parliament. The business case will be presented to parliament in late autumn and on approval, construction is expected to commence before the end of the year. ‘The scheme is very much still on the cards,' the spokesman told The MJ. ‘The Labour group has always maintained the scheme would go ahead and has the support of the Scottish Executive and parliament.'