Source · Select Committees · Transport Committee
Recommendation 32
32
Accepted in Part
Ensure all Local Transport Authorities can receive information from GBR on request.
Recommendation
We acknowledge that effective local control over rail services can best be exercised at the level of strategic authorities. It is essential that all parts of England should be able to engage effectively with GBR and, in particular, to hold it to account for its local or regional performance. The Government must ensure that all Local Transport Authorities can receive information from GBR on request, and should investigate a role for MSAs and other LTAs on bodies reflecting GBR’s planned regional business units. (Recommendation, Paragraph 86)
Government Response Summary
The government agrees working with local leaders is key and GBR will be organised locally, and states that all tiers of local government in England will benefit from empowered local GBR business units; they will continue to consider the role of MSAs and other LTAs on bodies reflecting GBR's planned regional business units.
Government Response
Accepted in Part
HM Government
Accepted in Part
The Government partially agrees with this recommendation. The Government agrees that working with local leaders will be key to providing a railway that better suits the needs of local communities up and down the country. That is exactly why GBR will be organised locally, so that it can work collaboratively with devolved leaders to meet local needs. This means that all tiers of local government in England will benefit from empowered local GBR business units which will provide a single point of contact for local railway matters. The reason that the Bill focuses on MSAs is because rail journeys, even local ones, usually span local authority boundaries. MSAs are usually large enough, or contain sufficient rail services, to consider a local railway network in the round. Mayors have a democratic mandate to take difficult decisions, can convene local partners, and tackle regional challenges. This provides the scale and authority needed to integrate rail with wider growth and transport strategies. Equally the Government acknowledges that rail services usually serve a wider geography than MSA boundaries too, and some local areas do not have MSAs in place. As the Government agrees with the Committee that GBR will need to work with local leaders of all levels, we will continue to consider their role as the design of GBR and its local business units is developed.