Should Wolverhampton be a city? How the Express & Star broke news of Queen's Millennium award in 2000

Along with Brighton and Hove, and Inverness, Wolverhampton beat of 39 other towns to become one of the Millennium 2000 cities. Here's how we reported it at the time...

To celebrate Wolverhampton being granted city status Wulfrunians joined the Express & Star in Queen Square to sign a Roll of Honour.

Wolverhampton has always been the unofficial capital of the Black Country. Today, the whole region will share in the celebrations.

For we have come of age. We have been officially recognised as a Millennium City, fighting off competition from all over the UK for this rare privilege.

So what does it mean? In practical terms, perhaps, not a great deal. Wolverhampton does not automatically get a Lord Mayor or even a cathedral. And for years to come, folk will probably talk about going into town, rather than into the city.

Even so, to be a city is a very special thing.

We live in a global village and it is a fact of life that in the wider world, cities are seen as being more important than towns. When it comes to seeking investment overseas or bringing new firms into the town, it helps to be a city.

But this honour from Her Majesty not only paves the way for a brighter future. It also recognises our remarkable past, and our contribution not only to the wealth of this nation but to Britain's very existence.

Our region was the foundry, the engine-room and the armoury of the Empire. Through three centuries and two world wars, the men and machines of Wolverhampton and the Black Country kept the enemy from the door and held the line between civilisation and darkness.

We paid a terrible price. No landscape in Britain has been more scarred and despoiled by industry than our gritty little patch. There were nights, well within living memory, when the whole region looked like one vast furnace, turning the skies red and the earth black. There were times when it seemed that nothing green would ever grow here again.

How times change. The Wolverhampton of today is the focus of urban forestry in Britain and the home of new, high-technology industries and a huge and vibrant university.

More than that, Wolverhampton has become the home of thousands of new arrivals from all over the world and their families, and a beacon of how to make the process work.

In less than half a lifetime, the town's old, easygoing warmth has helped create a society with a real neighbourhood spirit and first-class community relations.

It was one of our MPs, Enoch Powell, who issued that terrible Rivers of Blood warning 32 years ago. But it was here, too, that ordinary Wulfrunians proved him wrong. Of all Wolverhampton's many achievements, none should give us greater satisfaction than that.

This is a day for pride in our past and faith in our future, It is time, at last, to savour the words.

Here's how we covered the historic event:

"Wolverhampton today won the status it has fought so long for when the Queen named the town one of her three Millennium 2000 cities.

Along with Inverness and Brighton and Hove, the town was chosen from 39 bidders for the accolade which MPs and civic leaders said should give a tremendous boost to both its community spirit and economic wellbeing. News that Wolverhampton had been given its timely Christmas present more than 1,000 years after its birth came in an announcement from the Home Office.

After the disappointment of losing out to Sunderland in 1992, Wolverhampton's Mayor, Councillor Tersaim Singh, echoed a widely held view when he said that many people had said the town should have been a city a long time ago.

Stafford's Mayor, Councillor Peter Bruce, said: I still regard Wolverhampton as part of Staffordshire and I think it is excellent news. As Mayor of Stafford I would like to offer my congratulations to the Mayor of Wolverhampton, soon to become Lord Mayor, and the people of Wolverhampton, soon to become citizens.

Lichfield District Council chairman, Terry Finn, said: I would like to offer my congratulations to the mayor and everyone concerned in Wolverhampton. It is nice to know there is now another city in the Midlands.

The chairman of Cannock Chase Council, Mike Holder, described today's news as a wonderful Christmas present. He said: I think this is wonderful news and to tell you the truth I had every confidence that Wolverhampton would be recognised with city status.

Wolverhampton South East MP Dennis Turner, who has been campaigning for city status for the town since he entered Parliament in 1987, said:It is great news. It will achieve exactly the right psychological atmosphere in Wolverhampton the feel good factor, that something good has happened to the town.

South West MPJenny Jones said: I am delighted. Wolverhampton deserves it. It will be a wonderful boost for the town and everybody in it. Everyone has worked very hard, and they deserve to be congratulated.

Ken Purchase, MP for Wolverhampton North East, said: I am very, very pleased indeed that Wolverhampton's long campaign for city status has been successful. I think it will be a real tonic for the town.

Councillor Jim Carpenter, leader of the Tory opposition on the borough council, said: I am totally delighted with the news. As a born and bred Wulfrunian, I think it will be a tremendous filip for Wolverhampton.

Today's announcement means that 36 towns, including Shrewsbury and Telford, will be disappointed but they will get another chance in 2002 when the Queen will announce four new cities to mark her golden jubilee."