Mayor of South Yorkshire, Dan Jarvis and local business leaders are urging businesses and people across South Yorkshire to support Doncaster’s proposals to become the new home of Great British Railways Headquarters (GBR HQ)
The Mayor said Government support for the bid would help cement Doncaster’s status as the ‘national capital of rail’ and level up South Yorkshire.
Locating the HQ in Doncaster will catalyse a new rail economic cluster, building on the town’s train heritage and innovative rail businesses, to attract more firms and good quality jobs in the region.
His call comes as South Yorkshire prepares to host its inaugural Economic Summit on Wednesday 9 March, which brings together leading speakers and thinkers from the region, government, and finance to showcase the region’s economic potential.
Mayor Dan Jarvis said: “Locating the new GBR Headquarters in Doncaster would bring huge benefits to our region’s economy and create hundreds of much-needed jobs in the rail sector, for which there is plenty of appetite.
“This is the perfect opportunity for government to make good on their promises and commit to levelling up Doncaster and the wider South Yorkshire region. In turn, Doncaster has the skills, the facilities, the potential, and the heritage to help their plans in transforming the way the sector works.”
South Yorkshire LEP and Transport for the North Board Member Peter Kennan said: “Doncaster’s bid to be the new home of Great British Railways would give South Yorkshire a fantastic route to implement the LEPs Strategic Economic Plan which serves to drive economic strength and create good jobs for the region.
“Doncaster has a proud history of rail innovation and investment stretching back to the opening of The Plant in 1853 with ‘Mallard’ and ‘Flying Scotsman’ being just two of the famous locomotives to emerge from that great engineering powerhouse. That great tradition continues, and the Headquarters of Great British Railways would cement Doncaster’s place even more firmly as a major national and international centre for rail investment.”
CEO of Doncaster Chamber and South Yorkshire LEP board member Dan Fell said: “I want South Yorkshire to win this bid because we smash the criteria out of the park. Doncaster is impeccably well connected including great links to London and the devolved administrations. The region’s rail sector is thriving and a hotbed of innovation. Learning institutions such as the University of Sheffield, National College for Advanced Transport and Infrastructure, and Doncaster University Technical College are allied with the sector and will provide the future workforce.
“Doncaster is renowned as a place where partnerships work and where partnering organisations can become more than the sum of their parts. If, indeed when, GBR locates to South Yorkshire, the organisation will be welcomed into our ecosystem and embraced by many businesses and partners.”
The public are being urged to get involved by indicating why they think the HQ should be based in Doncaster through completing a short survey and submitting their comments.
