Wrexham will submit bid to become city as Executive Board gives approval
The ten members of Wrexham Council’s Executive Board have unanimously voted to submit a bid that will see a formal application lodged for City Status.
The outcome of the vote was not a surprise, as the report before councillors noted “The Lead Members been consulted and support the proposals” – the people participating in the vote.
Today’s meeting saw a debate that trod familiar ground in the arguments offered previously in a Full Council meeting for and against the proposal, with no councillor speaking changing their position from the previous lengthy debate.
The “Why wouldn’t you support it?” battle line from the Independent groups, alongside Labour and the Conservatives, lined up against Plaid Cymru’s “What can’t we do as a town?” argument.
Cllr Mark Pritchard caused a new area of debate, when he accused Plaid Cymru of opposing everything ‘just for the hell of it just because you are in opposition’.
Cllr Marc Jones defended his group, stating: “I don’t know if the person who said that was listening earlier on when we supported the culture bid, and he was grateful for that. He seems to believe that we oppose things for the sake of opposing, the fact is, we oppose this because the case has not been made by the council”.
The two sides clashed over a question of costs with some fresh information, with Cllr Carrie Harper pointing out she had asked repeatedly, even via a Freedom of Information request, to gain information on how much the consultation and consultant had cost over City Status.
Cllr Harper said: “I don’t accept commercial confidentiality as a reason not to release this information. It’s public money. The work has been done.
“It’s unlikely we’re going to be commissioning similar work soon, and the public interest I would argue is very strongly in favour of releasing that information in terms of openness and transparency.
“So I’ll ask that question once again to, how much did the consultants report and consultation cost?”
Cllr Pritchard replied ‘with pleasure’ pointing Cllr Harper to the reports before councillors (below) and the note on grants, saying “It has not cost us any money at all” noting just officer time had been used on the bid.
Cllr Harper came back: “You’ve said that that information is clearly in the report. So maybe you’d like to make clear for everybody watching this because this question has been asked time and time again. How much did the consultants report cost? How much did the consultation cost? There must have been invoices associated with that work. Can we please have the figures please?”
Councillor David A Bithell responded: “There is no cost to the bid for city status”.
A council officer informed the meeting that there was a £68,000 grant, explaining “There was Welsh Government grant support for placemaking to support the council’s placemaking strategy. But we have to be very clear that not all of that was in support of city status. It was to support the wider placemaking strategy and other things.”
Cllr Harper asked “How much about £68,000 was specifically for the bid?”
Cllr Bithell, nor anyone else, gave a breakdown in public however he did promise to furnish Cllr Harper with that information.
Although a bid submission does not guarantee a win, there is a belief in some quarters that Wrexham could be the only bid from Wales and therefore could be highly likely to be chosen.
Wrexham Council will now submit the formal bid paperwork to the UK Government Cabinet Office dedicated email inbox.
Our live tweets from the meeting detailing the course of the debate, in reverse chronological order, are archived below:
Meeting ends for the 3hr public section – councillors set to debate / approve item behind closed doors: “Update on Office Accommodation Review and approval to proceed with Phase 4 – Refurbishment of Lambpit Street” (LINK)
We have noted historic Cllr Malcolm King v Cllr Mark Pritchard battles. Cllr King today praises: “He shouldn’t blow his own trumpet…but I’m gonna blow it for him” as he praises Cllr Pritchard for giving ‘rebukes’ to anyone who suggests lowering Disabled Facilities Grants.
The weekly Welsh Government press conference is about to get underway. Expect more detail on the rollout of booster vaccines in Wales: (LINK) (LINK)
Meeting restarts (LINK) will include debate on the decarbonisation plan for Wrexham Council. Guess bit on housing contractors as well, had a couple of councillors ask where we got the info from – it was on the report before councillors 👀 (LINK)
Helpful councillors messaging to tell us / you meeting will resume at 12:05 after a ‘comfort break’
Meeting feed just cut off, there is more to the meeting than just those two bids. No information to public on if/when the feed will return…
TLDR the two viewpoints asking each other: “Why wouldn’t you back it?” v “What can’t you do as a town?”. Vote likely soon, it will pass, as the report before councillors today says that is what the people voting think!
Cllr David Kelly makes “a farming analogy” on geese and golden eggs in the last contribution to a long debate, majority of which was a less angry re-run of what has gone on before.
Chief Exec Ian Bancroft notes Cllr Davies’ speech, agrees that “City status works if it’s part of a wider placemaking piece”. Says that work next year will set plan for over a decade on ‘placemaking’ for Wrexham.
Cllr Dana Davies challenges Cllr Rees’ speech, says the Reading Uni research cited “concluded there is economic evidence that newly designated cities overwhelmingly outperform the rest of the UK”
Cllr Dana Davies accuses unnamed person/people of publishing ‘misinformation’ on the process – and delves into the Consultation to explain why this was always an Executive Board decision.
Cllr Marc Jones takes umbrage at comment that ‘the Plaid Group opposes things for the sake of opposing’, points to their Culture bid support earlier, but says of City Status bid, “we oppose this as the case has not been made by the council”.
Cllr Paul Roberts refers to the ‘infamous’ Full Council meeting 👀 Says regeneration of town centre is ‘pivotal’, doesn’t want resources of WCBC directed at City Status to mean delays on other projects. Cllr Bithell offers ‘reassurance’ says all projects progressing.
Cllr Geoff Lowe says local issues need sorting first before city status, talks about empty shops in the town centre, asks if Wrexham Council could do something, like Chester have, “can we put something on the windows to make it look as if we care?”
Cllr Harper asks again how much bid cost “There must have been invoices?”. Officer tells meeting grant was £68k but ‘not all for city status’. Cllr Harper asks how much was for city status. Cllr David A Bithell promises to ‘furnish the information’ but meeting not told in public.
It was quite pleasant until now, but Cllr Pritchard ‘turns tables’ & questions Cllr Harper, “why wouldn’t you support the Wrexham going forward to prosper?”. A smiling Cllr Harper replies “You have got no evidence”, “people are fed up not being included in the democratic process”
Cllr Pritchard says “It hasn’t cost us any money at all” points to it being ‘in the report’ (attached). That does not mean the consultant was not paid, Cllr Pritchard says WCBC had a grant.
Cllr Carrie Harper critical of council consultation, ‘not giving people the input that they should have had’ points to Merthyr doing a straight poll. Asks again (FOI’ed as well) how much consultation / consultants report cost, points out ‘it is public money’.
Verbose speech from Cllr Malcom King who people are “quite happy being an unpretentious straightforward, hard working town”, points to Cllr Pritchards earlier list of people who are not ‘stupid’ supporting it… rounds up saying it would be ‘dismal’ if people did not support bid
It is worth noting the tone and manner of the debate this time is much better after the ignominy of the Full Council meeting. Councillors on their best behaviour?
In a technical speech Cllr Rees says “We need to know the cost and we need to identify a payback, a tangible benefit”. Says arguments on city status debate have been ‘speculative’ & ‘opinion’ rather than ‘facts & evidence’
Cllr Phil Rees more skeptical, points to 11 new cities from 1974 being absent from lists of ‘high performers’. Says report today can’t point to individual success stories. Cites Financial Times reports ‘none of the new cities appear’, but ‘ambitious successful towns’ do appear.
Cllr Frank Hemmings points to research saying cities outperforming counterparts by 87%. Perth comes up again, with £30m of investment cited, “when you read the facts and look at how other cities have benefited from the change from a town to a city it is important to support”
Cllr David Griffiths says he has ‘looked into everything’ and can’t find anything negative with city status. Says speaking to people direct the main concern is council tax rises – points to Cardiff/London for rates rises ‘thats what raises rates, not being a city’
Cllr John Pritchard recognises the ‘different views’ out there on the topic, says he feels it will benefit rural areas. Actually cites third party report that he has taken time to read, and thus contributed to him forming his decision- gives examples of Perth, Preston etc
Lead Member for the Economy Cllr Terry Evans reads out a statement in support, with almost an awkward stumble on the words city status. Cllr Wynn now explaining how he can trace his history locally back to the 17th century and therefore ‘Wrexham is in my blood’.
Cllr Pritchard’s short introduction now well over ten minutes, most is similar speeches made previously, new bits though include a range of local businesses named as supporting city status – it appears nearly all local taxi companies listed in that as well.
Cllr Pritchard tells a family anecdote remembering ‘fond memories’ of going to the market with his gran to ‘get broken biscuits’, but says ‘Wrexham has changed’ and ‘we have to go again’.
Cllr Pritchard says on City Status… “I’ve got a lot more down here to say, but I won’t”. He did.
The presentation of the report from Cllr Pritchard is similar to the previous meetings where the issue was debated. Vote will be a nod through, as we wrote last week the report states “The Lead Members been consulted and support the proposals.”
If we get City Status can we have agenda items, not item agendas in council meetings?
City of Culture bid passed – and now we move to the totally separate City Status bid.
Cllr Hugh Jones commits “We will win” – City of Culture 2025 coming to Wrexham then !
Cllr Hugh Jones wraps up the debate, says its really important the Culture bid is multicultural & “we reach out across the whole rich heritage of our culture and our multi faith organisations”, says a ‘hard task ahead’ but ‘we have got the resources’
Cllr Geoff Lowe says he is ‘looking through it again’, perhaps the report this time? 👀 As recently he didn’t make page three (LINK)
Having two bids at the same time containing the same word City could prove “problematic” says Cllr Marc Jones, adds Wrexham needs to “blow our own trumpet” more and hopes the *Culture* bid is a success.
Council Leader Mark Pritchard praises Cllr King for the “time and effort you’ve put in over the years in the play area”
Cllr King’s speech ranging far and wide, notes the local Play effort attracting people from far and wide for the inspiration… and is ‘almost like going to Lourdes or something’
Cllr Malcolm King brings up a historic example of Wrexham being the Freiburg of Wales, due to our environmental credentials. Says it could be more relevant to City Status…. (Bid team keen to keep the two obviously separate, stuff like this might not help that goal!)
Cllr Phil Wynn explains he watched the film “Nativity!” last night.
First up is City of Culture bid – with the Lead Member Cllr Hugh Jones thanking those who put together the initial bid, and now looks forward to the next few weeks with councillors putting forward a ‘united front’ (logo + more previously: (LINK) )
@wrexham These two gsd’s are running around #Goulbourne Park last seen in Trident Way is anyone searching for them?
#StormBarra has arrived! The centre of the storm is just off the west coast of #Ireland. ⚠️🌬️🌧️❄️
WCBC’s Executive Board meeting to start shortly – City Status / City of Culture bids on agenda… which again for the millionth time, are different things 👀 Watch live: (LINK)
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