Edinburgh Tram Inquiry: Search the Evidence

…17 (9.30 am) CHAIR OF THE INQUIRY: Good morning. Yes, Mr Lake. MR LAKE: Yes, my Lord. The first witness today is Michael Howell. MR MICHAEL HOWELL (affirmed) Examination by MR LAKE CHAIR OF THE INQUIRY: You will be asked some questions. If you just speak clearly and not too quickly because the shorthand writers have to record what you're…

Edinburgh Tram Inquiry Office Use Only Witness Name: Michael Howell Dated: THE EDINBURGH TRAM INQUIRY Witness Statement of Michael Howell My full name is Michael William Davis Howell. My contact details are known to the Inquiry. | am retired and my role in the Edinburgh Tram Project (“ETP”) was as acting and then permanently appointed Chi…

…eing a young organisation but problems. Page 138 of 160 TRI00000085_ C_0138 323. There was a question of whether Michael Howell, the original TIE Chief Executive, stayed slightly too long. Michael Howell was great for getting an organisation going and getting it sorted and moving it forwards. Once that organisation was in a steady state a…

He's a very capable financier, very capable man in every way. I suppose I was surprised and remain surprised about the people who were chosen to be members of tie because tie was, after all, there to manage an array of very important civil engineering projects. And we didn't have anyone who was a civil engineer, I don't think, with the po…

…f London Transport, ring you up and say those things gives a flavour of some of the people that ended up at TIE. Michael Howell 57. Michael Howell's main interest appeared to be to empire build TIE, create more jobs and recruit more people. During the run up to the congestion charging referendum I remember him gathering all the staff toge…

t civil engineering works. | was the Railtrack Board’s nominated client for two very large projects, the West Coast Main Line upgrade, and Thameslink 2000. | was not however a senior project director. | had just finished a period managing a worldwide private company (FPT Group Limited) which distributed engineering components. In 2002, | …

…f London Transport, ring you up and say those things gives a flavour of some of the people that ended up at TIE. Michael Howell 57. Michael Howell's main interest appeared to be to empire build TIE, create more jobs and recruit more people. During the run up to the congestion charging referendum I remember him gathering all the staff toge…

th a different array of skill sets within the tie Board and continuing to focus on getting the tram built, rather than being snarled up in a new and potentially hostile entity. Q. Was TEL a potentially hostile entity? A. Well, let's say the people -- the individual in question had displayed a very serious measure of hostility during the p…

…me, as being best suited to fulfil them. Page 3 of 51 TRI00000053_ C _0003 6. I am referring to a note issued by Michael Howell, dated 26 May 2006, document reference (CEC01740339). It refers to the need to establish TIE as one organisation, TIE Vision. I do not know what the problem that he was trying to address was. It is the first time…

Graeme Bissett and James Papps of PUK. This three person team led the procurement development. Subsequently Andie Harper, who had taken over as interim Tram Director by the time | left, took the lead. | cannot remember who else was involved but there were others fully cognisant of alternative approaches and the risks and benefits of each,…

…bout this, this cannot have been early 2007. This must have been before that because I had the conversation with Michael Howell. So it would be shortly before Michael Howell left tie that I had that conversation. Q. Presumably, that's a fairly serious matter when public money is being spent and Transport Scotland is giving money to anothe…

company and the projects within the Council? A. That was true. Q. You also pointed out that there were a number of different projects going on, being handled by tie at the time, and there was limited time to consider each. Do I understand that correctly? A. Yes. Q. So setting up a Tram Project Board, as the name suggests, meant that you h…

…isation chart before, and also on page 6, I also state in there that I had not seen a particular memorandum from Michael Howell. I can only suspect that my memory was not fully in gear when I was doing that at the time. I do now recall both Michael Howell's memorandum and the associated organisation chart which in my statement I had misin…

so of formation, TIE had been asked to assume procurement responsibility for well over £1 billion worth of projects, two of which were being managed for public sector organisations outside Edinburgh. However, there were setbacks along the way. ITI was designed to utilise CC both to reduce traffic congestion and to pay for the tram. The po…

…Council ultimately decided to create TIE, but it came as a firm recommendation from the Council Chief Executive, Michael Howell, and his team at TIE and specifically the City Development team. I can understand the recommendation from the Chief Executive and the City Development team. I think Michael Howell was the Chairman of TIE ultimate…