Edinburgh tram report 'still with publishers' nine weeks on

The final report of the Edinburgh Tram Inquiry is still being printed, nine weeks after it was sent to publishers.

The inquiry was set up to examine why the project ran £400m over budget and five years late, but faces questions about its own cost and duration.

The probe has cost more than £13m since it was established in June 2014.

A spokesman for the inquiry said preparing the document was a "complex and lengthy process", but that it was hoped it could be ready by the autumn.

The inquiry - chaired by the judge Lord Hardie - was set up to examine what went wrong with the original phase of the trams project.

The tram line was first proposed in the then-Labour Scottish Executive in 2003, with a planned cost of £375m and a delivery deadline of 2009.

The SNP wanted to drop the project when it took power at Holyrood in 2007, but other parties voted in favour of going ahead.

By the time trams started running on the 8.7 mile (14km) route from the city centre to Edinburgh Airport in May 2014, the total cost had reached £776.

The inquiry has now run longer than the second phase of tram works, which recently extended the line by 2.9 miles (4.7km) to Newhaven.

Lord Hardie has been paid more than £1m, with the "vast majority" of the £13m total outlay having gone on staff and legal fees.

The final report was sent to publishers on 26 April, but is still to be made public.

A spokesman for the inquiry denied that summer holidays had any bearing on the timescale, saying: "Lord Hardie's final report remains with the publishers.

"Preparing a document of its size for publication is a complex and lengthy process. It is hoped it will be ready before the autumn."