Stobart Group has tabled plans to build a new headquarters in Cheshire for its rail and biomass divisions.

Stobart Rail, which is a major player in rail network maintenance, repair and improvement, is currently based in Carlisle.

The firm has applied to Halton Borough Council for planning consent to construct a new HQ in Widnes.

If this application gets the go-ahead it is not clear what, if any, the effect would be on the group’s existing HQ at the Solway Business Centre in Parkhouse Road, Kingstown.

Stobart Group did not respond to requests for comment.

But a document in support of the application, prepared for Stobart by agent the Ethical Partnership, states: “The proposed development is required to accommodate relocation and growth of the client’s business.”

The building would be two storeys high and have 138 parking spaces.

It would be built on land which the group owns and is currently unoccupied and contaminated. Nearby is a national distribution centre for Tesco, which was “developed as phase one of Stobart Park”, the application states.

It adds: “The proposed development is to provide HQ offices and related facilities for the Stobart Group and, in particular, for the rail and biomass divisions.

“The development has been designed to meet Stobart’s specifications.

“The proposals will meet the growing needs of the applicants’ business which will in turn provide support to the economy of Widnes and the surrounding area through the investment in the site.

“The application should be approved as soon as practicable to fulfil an urgent requirement to create office space to support relocation.”

No mention is made of Stobart Rail’s existing headquarters in Carlisle, which it has leased from Kingmoor Park Properties since 2007.

Stobart Group began as an offshoot of an agricultural merchant in Hesket Newmarket in the 1970s.

It sold a majority stake in the Eddie Stobart road haulage business two years ago to concentrate on its other interests principally aviation, infrastructure and biomass.