A COUNCIL LEADER has called for Southern Rail to be taken under the control of local government.

Brighton and Hove City Council's Warren Morgan has called for the creation of a body similar to Transport For London.

He has suggested calling it Rail South adding that the management of the rail network would be taken in-house.

It comes after an industry magazine reported that the Government was making contingency plans to strip Southern of its franchise, a claim denied by the Department for Transport.

Cllr Morgan said Rail South would give residents and commuters a say in who runs their rail services, as well as holding service providers to account and ensuring central government invests as necessary in the region.

He said: “It is time for the Department for Transport to end the current concession arrangement with GTR, and work with passengers, business and councils on awarding a new franchise that gives us the rail services we desperately need.”

The new body would work in partnership with Department of Transport to manage the Southern rail franchise, and would have a statutory role in the awarding of franchises and scrutiny of service standards.

It would work under the the emerging Transport for the South East sub-national transport body, equivalent to Transport for London.

Jonathan Sharrock, chief executive of Coast to Capital LEP, said: “Stronger local involvement in the specification and delivery of franchises is essential if we are to rebuild confidence in Southern and also to get more leverage over the investment decisions on the Brighton Main Line that Government needs to take in the next 12 months.”

Meanwhile speculation about the future of the franchise has reached new heights since a report in magazine Rail Business Insider on Wednesday said GTR was in default of its contract, and that the DfT was preparing for options including renationalisation.

A spokeswoman for GTR said the company's claims that under-performance were a result of strike action - and therefore allowable under the franchise's “force majeure” clause - were under review by the DfT.

A spokeswoman for the DfT said: “There are no plans to strip GTR of the franchise, this is purely speculation.”

Bexhill and Battle MP Huw Merriman, who sits on the Transport Select Committee, said: “It’s not rocket science.

“If you are in breach of your franchise agreement and you can’t justify it, then you might stand to lose it.”