Scottish first minister Alex Salmond has announced there will be a judge-led inquiry into the Edinburgh trams project.

The public transport initiative was beset by problems leading to disruption and cost increases. One issue involved a dispute between the council and one of the contractors working on the tram system, which caused significant delays to the project.

"We cannot lose sight of the considerable public concern about the project, the disruption it caused to households and businesses in Edinburgh," Mr Salmond said.

He added that there are important lessons to be learned from the £776 million initiative.

Since the project was announced a decade ago, the size of the tram network has halved, the price has doubled and it has taken twice as long to build as originally planned.

Edinburgh Central member of the Scottish parliament Marco Biagi welcomed the inquiry and said the initial concerns expressed by opponents of the scheme have been vindicated.