You have to hand it to Edinburgh Council officials, that when it comes to the plans to expand the tram system they really are a dogged bunch. No amount of messages from the Scottish Government that there is no money will put them off.

Next week, councillors on the transport and environment committee will be presented with the results of a 12-week public consultation exercise, which, if nothing else, is further proof − as if it was necessary − that local government attitude surveys are magnets for pressure groups who can skew the outcomes beyond usefulness.

In this case the target is the proposal to run the Granton-Roseburn spur along the leafy Roseburn Path, the old railway track bed now a popular route for cyclists, runners and dog walkers and the focus of a spirited campaign to find an alternative route, no matter how impractical.

The 11,000 responses to the call for views were from people twice as likely to own a bike as the general population and a third came from the two postcode areas closest to the path, including Craigleith, Murrayfield and Roseburn. And lo and behold, 68 per cent of them didn’t like the Roseburn Path route. However of 1,000 people questioned in a separate weighted market research exercise, the figure fell to 23 per cent. So after a research exercise lasting the best part of 10 months, the conclusion is that people who cycle on or live near a woodland path quite like it as it is.

Campaigners: Edinburgh councillors must scrap Roseburn Path tram plans

Key findings of tram consultation as majority oppose plan to build on city cycle path

Historic Environment Scotland issues verdict on Dean Bridge's tram........

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