In the UK, City Status is conferred by the Monarch, in this case Her late Majesty the Queen on advice from Ministers.
On special occasions such as the Millennium, and Her Majesty’s Jubilees (anniversaries of her coronation), the Government would open a competition for towns across the UK to be named cities.
Our CEO Howard Dawber was given the role of co-ordinating the strategy, written bid and campaign for the town of Newport in South Wales to be successful in the 2002 Golden Jubilee competition.
Newport was seen as the underdog, with the town of Wrexham in North Wales having a strong case. Most the existing cities of Wales were in the South – Cardiff, Swansea and the tiny city of St David’s, with only Bangor in the North.
Wrexham had the official support of the Welsh Assembly, led by the Labour Party, who were also in power at a national level and would be making recommendations to HM the Queen.
The town of Aberystwyth in central Wales was seen as the second front runner – with a well known University and clearly the major conurbation in its region. So Newport started in third place.
Worse, Newport had made a bid during the previous competition for the Millennium and been unsuccessful, so there was “bid fatigue” among the politicians, businesses and residents of the town.
It wasn’t even certain that a Welsh city would be awarded – many towns across the UK had a strong case and established campaigns.
There was a concern that the costs of the bid were too much, chances of success too low, and a second unsuccessful bid would actually have a negative impact on the reputation of Newport.
The town itself, while having a large population, had seen a series of economic setbacks with major industrial plants closing. Within Wales, Newport was jokingly referred to as “Car-port”, as if it was nothing more than a satellite suburb of its much bigger neighbour Cardiff only some 12 miles away.
Howard and the team at Newport revitalised the bid, creating a strong branding and message, recruiting businesses, schools and the voluntary sector into the project.
Clear goals were set including a principle that every action taken should have a positive impact even if the bid were unsuccessful.
The team secured celebrity support including Hollywood stars Catherine Zeta Jones and Anthony Hopkins, and brought in support from other cities named Newport around the world. A constant weekly drumbeat of new announcements ensured that the bid rapidly became the front runner.
Crucially, while other towns ended their campaigns with the submission of the final bid documents, Newport ramped up its campaign at this point, ensuring maximum activity at the point when decisions were being made.
Newport was successfully awarded City Status in 2002. The economic impact was swift, with new retail investment announced for the City Centre, and new offices and manufacturing centres announced in the year following the announcement.
