One thing councillors are never short of is emails. Every council meeting is preceded by a deluge of them, but recently my inbox has been overflowing with messages on one subject in particular - the new north/south tram scheme.
Given Edinburgh's chequered history with trams, this level of public interest was probably inevitable. Add general wariness of expensive government schemes to a genuinely controversial route and you have every ingredient needed for an inbox close to bursting.
That interest is a good thing. Council staff worked hard to give the public their say and residents responded in force; over 10,000 of them made their views clear, many by emailing members of the Transport and Environment Committee directly.
To borrow from Gavin & Stacey's Uncle Bryn, the results were "mixed reviews" - which roughly translates as: Edinburgh didn't like the proposals.
The sharpest objection was to routing the line along the Roseburn Path. Residents made it plain they didn't want to lose this much-loved green corridor and the council has now shelved that section, at least for now.
The Conservative Group did what we always do on issues that matter to this city,we listened to the people who know it best. Our 2022 transport manifesto promised that any change had to have public support and this scheme failed that test.
It also failed on funding; despite years to work it out, the Labour administration still has no answer for where the money is coming from, with neither the Scottish nor UK Government willing to pay.
And the proposed southern route over South Bridge raised serious structural concerns - since a 250-year-old crossing built for horses and carts was never designed for 65-tonne trams — concerns Edinburgh World Heritage raised and saw brushed aside.
Unsupported, unfunded and widely opposed; on that basis, we could not support it.
Edinburgh needs a modern transport system more than ever, and endless costly schemes aren't delivering it. If you share our concerns, next year's elections offer a choice: bin the City Mobility Plan and back a new, common-sense plan for the 2030s.
Our record shows only the Conservatives will stop the trams.
Neil Cuthbert - Conservative Group Transport Spokesman and Colinton/Fairmilehead ward councillor
