A planned new tram line in Edinburgh has been condemned as a “vanity project” and the city council has been urged to focus on filling potholes instead.

Lothian independent MSP Jeremy Balfour also said he welcomed the Scottish Government confirming it had no plans to fund the north-south route, which is estimated to cost up to £2.9 billion, says The Scotsman.

Nearly 11,500 responses to a consultation on the line’s route between Granton and the BioQuarter near the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh have been received by the council.

The local authority will consider these in 2026, but the largest number of submissions to a council consultation for years is thought to have been triggered in part by the controversial option to run trams along the Roseburn Path, a former railway line which has been used by walkers and cyclists for decades.

The first line, between Edinburgh Airport and York Place at the east end of the city centre, was completed in 2014 and extended to Newhaven in 2023.

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Mr Balfour has asked Transport Secretary Fiona Hyslop on Thursday to confirm that ministers would “not allocate any further funding to the extension of the tram network in Edinburgh”.

(Picture: Yay Images)