Call for Wrexham to have its own city council

Liam Randall – Local Democracy Reporter 

A call has been made for Wrexham to have its own city council to boost spending and improve governance.

The main urban area is currently represented by four separate community councils of Acton, Offa, Rhosddu and Caia Park.

However, following Wrexham being awarded city status in 2022, a former police and crime commissioner believes an overarching city council should replace them instead.

Arfon Jones, a community councillor in Gwersyllt, highlighted that other major locations in north Wales such as Prestatyn, Llandudno and Bangor already have their own dedicated town or city council.

Powers

He said it would give the new body extra powers and additional spending money to improve the city centre.

Mr Jones said: “A new Wrexham City Council would be able to run their own transport and car parks like Prestatyn Town Council.

“They would be able to do much more as one large entity rather than four smaller ones as other town and city councils have shown and will have much larger budgets.

“The process is complex and local residents would need to petition the county borough council to move things forward.

“But if the system of governance for Wrexham is to improve then we need a frank and open conversation about the potential improvements.”

Decision making

His comments were made in response to an inquiry by the Senedd’s Housing and Local Government Committee into the role of town and community councils.

One of its terms of reference is to investigate how new powers could be introduced to support communities.

Mr Jones said the establishment of a city council would also help to speed up decision making.

He added: “Some say that the county borough does an adequate job of developing the city, but the truth is that it operates at a ‘snails pace’ to what most of us, including traders, expect.

“Take the so-called ‘Ryan Reynolds Park’ where nothing has happened in transferring that asset in more than 12 months.”