YORK is being lined up as a possible second centre of Government as part of a plan to move senior Whitehall staff out of London.

According to reports in The Times, departments have been given two weeks to submit plans to move a large number of officials from London to hubs around the country.

York has been identified as one of the potential sites where senior civil servants could be based, pushing the plans to relocate the House of Lords in the city.

Reports suggest that officials have started looking at property in the York area.

It was reported in The Press that in January this year, the Prime Minister told officers to start planning the move.

Around the same time, James Cleverly, chairman of the Conservative Party, said on national television confirmed the move to York was being investigated.

"It’s one of a range of things that we are looking into," he said. "It’s about demonstrating to people that we are going to do things differently."

York Central MP, Rachael Maskell, welcomed the news, saying it could bring thousands of jobs and improvements to York's infrastructure, especially transport.