City Status has been “a major contributory factor” to investment, claim senior councillors

The first year of City status has been “a major contributory factor” for local investment, senior councillors have said.

Wrexham was awarded city status as part of June’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations – making it one of the biggest announcements for the area of its nature since 1857 when the town was formally incorporated via Charter. ‌

In September 2022 an official “Letter Patent” confirmed city status, with Wrexham formally becoming a city in the same month.

Prior to the bid a list that “identifies 10 key benefits that Wrexham could capitalise on if it becomes a city” was published by the council amid the debate around the move: ‌ ​‌‌‌‌​​

1. 1. Increased sense of local pride.
   2. A platform to promote Wrexham.
   3. Opportunities for local institutions and businesses to raise their profile and attract investment. e.g. University
   4. More potential to attract skilled and ambitious students, employees and investors to Wrexham. e.g. Hospital
   5. Opportunities for the community, infrastructure, and services to grow and develop more sustainably.
   6. A focus for future branding and marketing campaigns.
   7. Greater awareness of Wrexham’s history, culture and language – attracting more visitors and supporting the local economy.
   8. More potential to attract major projects.
   9. The ability to collaborate with Welsh and UK cities on specific city projects and initiatives.
   10. Increased expectations of ‘place making’ that in turn create more vibrant places to live, work and invest.

Two further documents were also been published, here and here – the latter giving a preamble to the above list and an expanded version of the top ten key benefits as above.

In this month’s media brief we asked senior leadership at Wrexham Council to detail what new thing, that was not in existence before city status was awarded, stands out to them as a tangible benefit of the award.

Cllr Hugh Jones took the opportunity first to respond, pointing to the “overall profile of Wrexham locally, nationally and internationally”.

He added: “The sort of successes that Ty Pawb has had, as an example at the Whitworth gallery in Manchester, it is international profile for Wrexham.

“Also, it is not a year since we finished the City of Culture, but our bid to go again is very serious contender for City and Culture.

“The fact that we’re going to host the national Eisteddfod in 2025, all of which add to the prosperity and the profile of Wrexham.

“Certainly, from the areas that I’m involved in, the fact that we have a high profile nationally and internationally shows that Wrexham is on the right trajectory in terms of becoming – or establishing itself – as the premier city in North Wales.

“In fact, we are probably competing with some of the South Wales cities now in terms of our our status and our standing.

“You see Wrexham being recognised as a city in terms of media, “The City of Wrexham”, it is all about profile and prosperity. The important thing is that prosperity trickles down.

“It’s not just about money, it’s about quality of life and the sorts of things that we are engaged in terms of community work, community actions, that result from having that level of profile.”

Council Leader Mark Pritchard gave his view: “For years, I used to knock doors when there was funding and discussions going on with reference to money and funding for cities.

“We would always talk and they would say, ‘You’re not a city, we can’t even open the door for you’. Now we are a city we have lots of discussions of investment, and grants and money which is made available through that process.

“I can assure you because I’m from Wrexham, because I have family and friends to whom Wrexham will always be known as a town to them.

“Absolutely, and quite right, there’s nothing wrong with that. But, to be aspirational and move forward I think becoming a city will take us forward, and we will improve and grow.

“The amount of inquiries that we are having now for people to come and invest in Wrexham is incredible. Now a lot of people say it is piggybacking on the football club takeover and that probably is right to the point.

“But we are having discussions about city status a long time ago before the football club evolved to what it is.

“I think it’s all good news for Wrexham. I’ve said this for many years, we are the capital of North Wales, and we have to act like it.”

Wrexham Council Chief Executive Ian Bancroft added some specifics, pointing to investments: “We concluded the deal around the Wrexham Gateway with significant private investment to see that move forward.

“We’ve obviously seen confirmation from FI Real Estate about their investment into the industrial estate.

“We have an ambition that’s well formed about an Investment Zone, which obviously comes with having that confidence of being a city.

“There are some quite ambitious plans around the industrial estate that investors are looking at.

“I think that confidence about being a city has facilitated all of those things. It’s very difficult to say it’s the single reason but it is absolutely a major contributory factor.”