COUNCILLORS in Wrexham have approved plans to submit a bid for City of Culture status for 2025 and have agreed to explore submitting a bid for city status.

Towns across the UK have been given the opportunity to apply for city status next year to mark the Queen's Platinum Jubilee.

Wrexham Council's Executive Board, meeting today (Tuesday), approved a recommendation to bid for City of Culture and they have also agreed to explore putting in a bid for city status for Wrexham for 2022.

The council last bid for City Status in 2012 but councillors feel Wrexham has a strong case this time round, given it is the biggest town in North Wales.

Council leader, Cllr Mark Pritchard welcomed the decision to bid for City of Culture and stressed that an application had been prepared in anticipation of the support of Executive Board, given time was of the essence with the application deadline being July 19.

Cllr Phil Wynn said: "I think this is an exciting proposal that only comes around every 10 years and so it would be foolish not to at least explore the proposal of bidding for city status."

Cllr Marc Jones lent his support to the City of Culture bid but spoke out against bidding for city status, saying it would be costly and would be another task for the council's economic development team when they had other important work to focus on such as the revamping of the town centre.

He said: "It seems that no lesson has been learnt from the previous bids."

Cllr Jones questioned how much the resulting rebranding of Wrexham as a city would cost and went on to quote two contrasting descriptions of Swansea, granted city status in 1969. He said that Dylan Thomas described Swansea as an "ugly, lovely town" whereas it was described as as a "pretty sh**ty city" in the Swansea-based film Twin Town.

He added: "I want us to back our 'ugly, lovely town' going forward."

Responding to the query about costs, Cllr Pritchard said he could not pluck figures out of the air at this time and he stressed that the council would work with key stakeholders to identify the benefits to Wrexham of putting in a bid. He also said that Cllr Jones was not speaking for other people here who had pride in Wrexham and wanted investment in the town.

He added: "There's a lot of support for this and we are only in the early stages.

"We want to improve Wrexham. We want to make it a better place. We want more companies to come into Wrexham.

"Wrexham is a wonderful place with a lot going for it. Let's stop talking it down. Let's talk it up."

Cllr Pritchard added that the city status bid proposal had received the backing of Wrexham MP Sarah Atherton and Clwyd South MP Simon Baynes, Ken Skates MS, Wrexham Glyndwr University and businesses from across Wrexham.

Cllr Rob Walsh asked when a public consultation would take place and council chief executive Ian Bancroft said that the bid proposal idea would be explored and then there would be a period of engagement in the autumn.

A report exploring the bid for city status will now be prepared and brought back to a future Executive Board meeting. Deadline submission of any bid for city status is December.

Ahead of the meeting, Wrexham MP Sarah Atherton said: “Wrexham is the largest town in North Wales, a regional engine for economic growth and job creation with the largest industrial estate in Wales, an educational hub with excellent centres such as Glyndwr University and Coleg Cambria, and a town with a rich heritage and strong identity.

"Successful city status and City of Culture bids will only further raise Wrexham’s economic, social and cultural profile, bringing in further investment, whilst creating welcomed jobs and opportunities for all.

"Nonetheless, I am mindful of some of the concerns of residents across the town and I will be making sure their voices are heard in this process too.”

Mr Baynes said: “Maximising the economic and cultural benefits for Wrexham and the wider county borough will be crucial as we recover together as a community from Covid-19.

"Both of these bids represent real opportunities to turbo-charge our local economy, support our culture and heritage and make the Wrexham area a very attractive place for investment and long-term projects.

"So I’m very supportive of the Council’s approach as they start to engage with local groups and residents to determine what this could mean for the future of Wrexham and the wider area. These bids have my full support.”