“Hard to get a true gauge on the immediate benefits” of Wrexham’s city status one year on
It is now little over a year since Wrexham found out that it would be amongst eight new cities being created across the UK.
The county borough received 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 from 1 September.
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:
- Increased sense of local pride.
- A platform to promote Wrexham.
- Opportunities for local institutions and businesses to raise their profile and attract investment. e.g. University
- More potential to attract skilled and ambitious students, employees and investors to Wrexham. e.g. Hospital
- Opportunities for the community, infrastructure, and services to grow and develop more sustainably.
- A focus for future branding and marketing campaigns.
- Greater awareness of Wrexham’s history, culture and language – attracting more visitors and supporting the local economy.
- More potential to attract major projects.
- The ability to collaborate with Welsh and UK cities on specific city projects and initiatives.
- 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.
Proposals for the Kop redevelopment
The eyes of the world are of on Wrexham at the moment thanks to the success of Wrexham AFC, the Hollywood takeover, Disney+ series and City of Culture 2025 bid.
Many changes to the city are underway, with work taking place ahead of the Kop redevelopment, two independent stores moving into the Chapter Court development along with a new football museum in the pipeline.
However the changing way in which towns and cities are used by members of the public has led to big name retailers such as Asda Living announcing plans to close its Wrexham store this summer.
M&S on Eagles Meadow will also be vacating the city centre before the end of the year, with works well underway converting a former gym on Plas Coch Retail Park into a new foodhall.
This will leave Eagles Meadow without a flagship store and another large city centre unit vacant
More recently the Wrexham Enterprise Hub, on Queens Square, closed its doors after five years of supporting local businesses.
The Hub was operated by Town Square Spaces Ltd (TownSq) on behalf of Business Wales through the Welsh Government and the European Union Regional Development Fund.
To date, the Wrexham Enterprise Hub say they have supported “more than 4,000 participants, enabled over 130 local businesses to start and grow, including LOVE Wrexham, TLC Nursing, and Toddle, which featured as one of the ‘best-ever pitches’ on BBC’s Dragon’s Den”.
We recently asked Wrexham Council when Wrexham will “start acting like a city and become a destination for big companies, which previously the council leader said do not move into towns etc.”
We also asked that aside from the Wrexham Gateway Project and Chapter Court – what benefits has being a city brought as we head towards a year of status being formally awarded.
A spokesperson for Wrexham Council told us that less than one year on it is “hard to get a true gauge on the immediate benefits of City Status on Wrexham.”
The spokesperson continued: “However the level of interest in investing in Wrexham has increased significantly due to a number of factors such as our raised profile in becoming a City of Culture finalist, City Status and the huge media interest around the takeover and successes of Wrexham Football Club
“As part of our evolution into a city, and to help with fully realising the benefits of our newly held status, we currently have our placemaking plan out to consultation.
“The Placemaking Plan is about improving the centre of Wrexham and encouraging people to re-imagine and influence how it should look, feel, and function.
“Specifically, we want placemaking to promote better design and development, and help establish more appealing social, cultural, economic uses and activities.
“The final version of the Plan will include a comprehensive delivery plan reflecting wider consultation and involvement.
“It will include agreed priorities for both the Council and its partners, identifying the level and sources of funding and governance structures that will steer the Plan’s delivery.
“Becoming a city has played its part in building our confidence and ambitions for Wrexham. The decisions we make now in shaping the future of the City of Wrexham will have a positive impact on many generations to come.”
Cllr Nigel Williams, Lead Member for Economy at Wrexham council said: “With changes in shopping habits and the economic climate nationally we have seen a small amount of businesses no longer trading in Wrexham.“
“But equally we have seen businesses investing in re-locating within the region such as Marks and Spencer moving to Plas Coch, as well as new businesses and national retailers such as Next and Smyths Toys opening new stores in Wrexham.
”The industrial estate is thriving with lots of interest from companies looking to invest in the area.
”There have been recent announcements of Networld sports exciting expansion plans, the new proposed development from Fi estates promising up to 1500 jobs as well as expansion plans with existing companies on the estate looking to invest further in their facilities.
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