Leith Walk & Constitution Street

Following the announcement that Willie Gallagher has resigned, the Scotsman of 14 November carried two articles.  The first under the headline:

Trams chief's resignation: "It's vital that an able replacement is found quickly"

The article suggests that Willie's resignation could not have come at a worse time for the project as it enters a critical phase - the imminent laying of the first tracks on Leith Walk (if you can call six months time imminent), the (partial) closure of the city centre early next year, or the commencement of construction of the tram vehicles.

The article suggests that Willes must have known of the potential opposition he would face in the role and questions whether the recent outspoken criticism may have been a contributing factor to Willie's resignation - suggesting that the Councillors have no-one to blame for that situation but themselves, and they must address the consequences.

The second article appears under the headline:

End of the line as capital tram chief resigns with no bonus

Although there had been widespread criticism of the implementation of the project in the city centre, it is believed that the announcement of Mr Gallagher's departure came asa surprise to Councillors.

The aritcle also points out the significant gap in the project at the highest level, with the recent announcement that Neil Renilson is also leaving his post.

The article also quotes a sokesman for the city council who last night insisted that Mr Gallagher would not be getting any of kind of pay-off, as he was simply serving a month's notice.

Wille Gallagher will step down from his position as Executive Chairman of tie it was announced in the Edinburgh Evening News on 13 November

Tram boss quits his post

Mr Gallagher is leaving for personal and family reasons.

According to figures released by the roadworks commissioner there are 392 roadworks currently in force across the city as reported in the Edinburgh Evening News of 8 November:

392 works on the road to nowhere

The article also quotes the Association Chairman, Gordon Burgess who called the situation a 'scandal', criticizing the lack of co-ordination.

At a recent meeting with representatives from tie, the Association was advised that there were approximately 100 work sites on Leith Walk / Constitution Street, so it would appear that we have more than our fair share of the works currently underway across the city.

When tie failed to deal with his enquiries about the appearance of double yellow lines on Leith Walk at the weekend, the Association Chairman Gordon Burgess took matters into his own hands and painted them out, as reported in the Edinburgh Evening News on 5 November:

Businessman gets out black paint to fix tram firm's mistake

tie blamed Carillion for the error who suggested that they were 're-introducing' traffic management measures in preparation for the forthcoming tramworks embargo - this despite the fact that these restrictions were not part of the original road markings.

Rather than making moves to remove the offending markings, tie appeared to be more concerned with the Health & Safety issues surrounding the paint used to black-out the lines, however they had learnt their lessons from the 'hole' fiasco and refrained from a heavy-handed response.