Public bodies must get back on track for good of Merseyside
A PETTY squabble between two public organisations is threatening to destroy the economic prosperity Liverpool has fought so hard for so long to establish.
Last night, the deadline for the two consortia aiming to build and run the Merseytram network ticked by, and neither of them had entered a bid.
Not only is this crucial public transport initiative on the brink of collapse, it is threatening to drag the £750m Grosvenor shopping project down with it.
The crisis has been sparked by Liverpool Council's ludicrously late intervention last month to demand that the second tram line should serve John Lennon Airport.
But the story behind the headlines is one of bitter animosity between the council and Merseytravel, a situation exacerbated by apparent personal tensions between their chief executives, David Henshaw and Neil Scales.
Losing the Fourth Grace project was farcical, shambolic, embarrassing beyond belief - but nobody's fault, or so we keep being told by the public and private sector partners in the expensive fiasco. The decision to pull the plug was delivered as a fait accompli. There was no opportunity to do anything to salvage it.
Well, this time, it may not be too late. Merseytravel has extended its deadline by a fortnight. The way to save the trams project and secure the future of the Grosvenor project is simple.
The council clearly might have had a case for wanting the trams to serve the airport, but it has left it far too late. It must withdraw this completely unreasonable demand immediately, and blame its own incompetence for not coming up with this glaringly obvious request many months ago.
Henshaw and Scales may never be the best of friends, but they are both hugely able men, experienced enough to know that they must not allow any personal differences to interfere with projects as important as these.
We need an outbreak of common sense all round. A tram network that does not go to the airport may not be ideal, but it is certainly better than nothing - no tram link at all and no £750m development of the city centre. And nothing is precisely what we are in danger of ending up with.
Heavyweights with the future welfare of Liverpool in their hands > > >
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