Northampton’s city status bid has been submitted - now we wait

A bid to upgrade Northampton from a town to city has officially been submitted by West Northamptonshire Council.

The issue was debated at the full council meeting on Thursday (December 2) where councillors voted unanimously to support the bid.

Now the application curated by the council has been submitted to meet the deadline of today (December 8).

Following the submission, councillor Jonathan Nunn, leader of West Northamptonshire Council, said: “Our bid has now been submitted and I’d like to thank everyone who worked so hard on it.

“I’m also extremely grateful to everyone who got behind the bid, it gained a huge amount of support from all quarters.

“We’ve put forward an extremely robust case for why Northampton is the right choice and England’s next city, all we can do now is wait for a decision.”

The document detailing the bid is expected to be made available for public viewing shortly.

Now what?

Nothing more can be done.

The winners of this round of city status bids are expected to be announced before or on Her Majesty the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee extended Bank Holiday weekend of June 2-5, 2022.

What does city status mean?

Receiving city status does not bring any benefits, extra funding or new powers for the local council - it simply gives a town the right to refer to itself as a city.

But, according to experts at the Open University (OU), the status can be a 'marker of identity and national significance' in terms of economy, culture, scientific knowledge and social advancement.

"Cities market themselves and are recognised as centres of commerce, heritage, creativity and other specialisms. Think of Edinburgh and cultural events such as the Fringe, or think of London and its stock markets. Being a city is to be elevated to a greater level of national significance," an OU spokesman told our sister paper MK Citizen.