Great British Railways: ‘No better place than Crewe’ for HQ

Councillors unanimously backed a motion to prioritise Crewe's bid to become home for the Great British Railways headquarters

There is "no better place than Crewe" to be home for the headquarters of Great British Railways, councillors have heard.

Cheshire East Council plans to put its name forward to host the new national body for the country's railways.

A competition to find a host for the new body was announced earlier this month.

The government said GBR's headquarters would go to a place "with a rich railway history".

At a meeting of Cheshire East Council, councillors unanimously backed a motion calling for it to prioritise the submission of a "competitive bid" for Crewe.

The new state-owned GBR was announced in May in a plan to reform the railway system, with York and Doncaster already putting their bids forward.

GBR will set timetables and prices, sell tickets in England and manage rail infrastructure.

In the motion, put forward by Conservative group leader Janet Clowes, it said Crewe's "iconic railway history" and "location as 'Gateway to the North'" were selling points for the town.

In 2018, Crewe celebrated 175 years of railway engineering, with the first locomotive produced at Crewe Works rolled out on 20 October 1843.

She told the meeting that "there is no other better place than Crewe" to have the new headquarters.

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After the meeting, Ms Clowes said: "As soon as I heard Grant Shapps [Transport Secretary] raise it at the beginning of the month, Crewe popped straight into my head.

"It is the railway town."

She added the unanimous vote from the members "sends a really strong message to government".

Crewe and Nantwich MP Dr Kieran Mullan said he had written to Mr Shapps urging him to select the Cheshire town.