Declares that Carnforth would be an ideal location for the new headquarters of Great British Railways; further that the creation of the headquarters would bring additional jobs to the community, as well as encourage new investment; further that Lancashire County Council should note the importance of this proposal; and further that an initial petition organised by Lancaster Civic Vision gained over 500 signatories from the whole community.
The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urge the Government to note the nomination of Carnforth to house the new headquarters of Great British Railways.
And the petitioners remain, etc.—[Presented by David Morris, Official Report, 15 March 2022; Vol. 710, c. 863.]
[P002719]
Observations from The Minister of State, Department for Transport (Wendy Morton):
The Great British Railways Transition Team has been tasked with overseeing a process to select a national headquarters for Great British Railways. The expressions of interest stage launched on 5 February 2022, with 42 expressions of interest provided by the deadline of Wednesday 16 March 2022, from towns and cities across Great Britain.
The Great British Railways Transition Team will now assess the expression of interest applications using the six published criteria:
Alignment to levelling up objectives
Connected and easy to get to
Opportunities for Great British Railways
Railway heritage and links to the network
Value for money
Public support
A shortlist of the most suitable locations will be announced in May to go to an online consultative public vote.
Ministers will then make a final decision on the headquarters location based on all the information gathered and the criteria outlined above. We expect to announce the future location of the GBR headquarters in the summer.