A COMMUNITY leader is threatening to disrupt Wrexham’s bid for city status.

Cllr Mark Pritchard, Independent member for Esclusham and lead member for housing, says council chiefs went ahead with the bid despite a consultation exercise that showed the majority of people were against it.

Now he says he intends to make the UK Cabinet Office, which is in charge of the bidding process, aware of that fact.

Cllr Pritchard’s comments follow Monday’s Leader story in which council leader Ron Davies urged more people to get behind the bid to make Wrexham a city in the Queen’s diamond jubilee next year.

Cllr Pritchard said: “I and a large number of other councillors are furious about what Cllr Davies has said about city status.

“The bid was made after a survey of the people of Wrexham in which the majority who took part were against it.

“This is a complete waste of money and it is just a case of chasing fool’s gold.

“I would also like to know how much all this has cost in terms of preparing the bid document and officers’ time.

“It must be about £50,000 if you add it all up.”

He added: “I believe that 60 per cent of Wrexham councillors would support me in what I am saying.

“In the next couple of days I will be contacting the Cabinet Office to tell them this bid has been made totally against the wishes of the people of Wrexham.”

Cllr Davies said: “It is up to Cllr Pritchard what he does but I hope he doesn’t do it.

“It doesn’t help our bid and I don’t see what he is going to gain from it.

“The executive board decided to go ahead with the bid as they felt the numbers responding to the consultation exercise weren’t representative of the people of Wrexham.

“But there was a lot of support for the bid from MPs and others.

“I was not on the executive board at the time but I supported the bid and still do.

“The council estimated the bid would cost £20,000, but I don’t think it will cost anything like that because the latest one was based on a previous bid.”