Nuneaton needs your support in bid to become rail HQ

Residents and businesses can now make their case in an online book of support available by clicking here.

Earlier this month, Nuneaton was among 42 towns and cities across the UK revealed to be bidding to be the home of the new body which will oversee the rail network. Its remit will include owning rail infrastructure, receiving fare revenue, running and planning the network and setting most fares and timetables.

The shortlist of potential host towns is to be announced next month and, as part of the selection process, there will be a local public vote. In common with other bid locations, residents and supporters of the Nuneaton bid are invited to sign up to support the campaign, via the bid web page.

The town has a long association with railways, with a mainline station as early as 1847. The railways were a key driver of the local coal industry, with an extensive network of lines across North Warwickshire.

Warwickshire is home to a number of rolling stock and supply chain companies while Coventry is the home of Very Light Rail (VLR) technology. Nuneaton is ideally located at a central point on the rail network, with easy access to the rail industry’s operating, design and manufacturing eco-system across the Midlands and wider UK.

Cllr Izzi Seccombe, leader of Warwickshire County Council, said: “Locating GBR’s HQ to Nuneaton would provide a huge boost to the Transforming Nuneaton Programme (TNP) which aims to create a vibrant, attractive and prosperous town centre. In return, this growing Midlands town will provide GBR with the perfect launching point to revolutionise and repurpose the country’s national railways. It is geographically ideally situated and is on the cusp of becoming a town that any business would be proud to be associated with. We urge as many people as possible to get online and share why they think Nuneaton should be chosen as the new home for GBR.”

Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council leader Cllr Kristofer Wilson: “This bid to be the new home of GBR is a statement that Nuneaton and Bedworth have high ambitions for our towns, and I would encourage all of our residents to sign up and support our bid. We are doing all we can to make Nuneaton and Bedworth a great place to live, work and visit.

“Our transport connections with the rest of the country are excellent and our location would literally put GBR in the heart of the UK. The rewards this could bring to our town are huge, and I urge everyone to back the bid."

Nuneaton MP Marcus Jones added: “I am proud to represent Nuneaton which is a town with a proud history and a bright future, and I urge the Department of Transport to select Nuneaton as the new headquarters for Great British Railways.

“As the most central town in England, Nuneaton is very well connected in terms of local, national and international transport links.”

To show your support for Nuneaton’s bid to become the new HQ of Great British Railways (GBR), click here.

You can follow the campaign on social media using: #NuneatonGBRPlus

More information about the bid can be found by clicking here.