ST ASAPH is ready to fight again for prized city status as part of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.
As the seat of an ancient cathedral and diocese, St Asaph historically had city status but is no longer officially considered as one.
Despite the lack of formal status, the residents in the town still commonly refer to St Asaph as a ‘city’.
“Under the church rules we are classed as a city but it is not officially recognised,” said St Asaph county councillor Bill Cowie.
“One of my concerns is the other places like Wrexham is a big area with a big population, but it would be nice if we can make St Asaph an official city.”
The honourable status is available for only one town in the UK to mark the celebration of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in June, and St Asaph has applied for restoration of
city status in 2000 and 2002 but was unsuccessful.
St Asaph was the first to have an all-welsh medium school, and prides itself on its colourful and rich heritage, with the smallest ancient cathedral in Britain, but its contribution to the Welsh language has been outstanding with the translation of the Bible into Welsh by Bishop Morgan in 1567.
“Historically St Asaph surpasses any other application, the city dates back to 576AD, before Canterbury in fact,” said Mayor Andrew Thomas.
“St Asaph has 4,000 jobs in the area which is even more than our population, and surprisingly we have 800,000 visitors a year.”
St Asaph will be taking on 25 other UK towns including Wrexham who also lost the competition during the Queen’s Golden Jubilee.
The town’s population is around 3,500 and makes it one of the smallest competitors, but St Davids in South Wales won city status in 1995 with only a population of 1,600.
The 2002 winner, Newport, South Wales, caused controversy as four of the five existing cities in Wales are in the south.
The fifth Welsh city, Bangor is the only one in the north and St Asaph is striving to be the second town in North Wales to be awarded the prized status.
“I do not think in terms of quality we will be beaten, St Asaph is a diamond of a community acting within the big society,” said mayor Thomas.
With only one winner 2012 has seen a huge number of entries from towns including Croydon, Luton and Doncaster, but only Wrexham and St Asaph have bid for the status
in Wales.
“I am all in favour of gaining city status, it is respect for the town and will certainly help attract people to the area,” said East Ward county councillor Dewi Owens.
Officials will announce the winner in May ahead of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations.