Public back town bid to gain city status
9:22am Friday 10th February 2012 in Your Town
BOLTON has been named as the fifth most deserving town to be granted city status in a national poll.
Bolton is among 26 candidates vying for city status — the Queen is set to grant the honour to one town as part of her Diamond Jubilee celebrations.
A survey by YouGov placed Reading and Bournemouth as the two most deserving towns, closely followed by Middlesbrough and Colchester.
Bolton was level pegging with Gateshead in joint fifth.
The same poll found Tower Hamlets and Croydon to be the least worthy of an upgrade in the eyes of the public. It comes after bookies named Bolton as sixth favourite to become a city at odds of 18-1.
Reading is hot favourite at 10 to 11.
Leader of Bolton Council, Cllr Cliff Morris, said: “We’re a city in all but name and Bolton deserves to be a city.
“We see city status as a vital tool in securing future investment and helping us achieve our vision.
“We’re one of the biggest towns in the country and have a long and proud history dating back more than a thousand years. We are going after the official recognition we rightfully deserve.”
Town hall sources remain hopeful of Bolton winning the city bid, but fear the award could go to a southern town, as the North West was favoured last time when Preston was handed the honour in 2002 for the Queen’s Golden Jubilee.
Bolton’s bid became the talk of social networking website Twitter this week.
Scores of people got involved in the online debate as people aired their views on the bid, using the hashtag #boltoncitystatusbid It appears Bolton’s nearest North West rival, Stockport, is out of the running, placed at 25 to one by William Hill.
