THE Secretary of State for Wales paid a visit to Wrexham today (September 1) as its status as a city officially becomes active.

Wrexham earned the prestigious status through a competition which was part of Her Majesty the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

The honour was granted earlier this year and the official ‘Letter Patent’ confirms city status as of today.

With that, Wrexham becomes the seventh city in Wales joining Cardiff, Swansea, Newport, Bangor, St Davids and St Asaph.

Secretary of State for Wales Rt Hon Robert Buckland was in Wrexham today to give his thoughts on how the city status can benefit the local area in the long run.

Read more: Update on Wrexham's UK City of Culture 2029 bid

Mr Buckland, who was appointed to the role on July 7, said: "City status for a place like Wrexham is a massive confidence boost. I know local people have huge pride in Wrexham and its surrounding district but now that's been reflected with official recognition and I think that's going to really re-enforce that sense of civic pride here.

"Looking at other examples of city status in recent years, Perth (Scotland) had city status I think back in 2012 and its economy has grown by over 10% in the years since.

"I think that's a very interesting indication of how the new and increased sense of civic pride can lead to that sense of momentum and growth and therefore in many ways it's not just a mark in time as to Wrexham's historic development, it's very much a new chapter in the history of the area.

"City status opens up a whole range of new opportunities that I'm sure local businesses and people want to embrace."

Asked about how important it is for Wales to have another city to add to its list, Mr Buckland added: "It's really significant that we now have a large urban centre in North Wales designated as a city. That hasn't happened before, obviously we've got the university town of Bangor and the cathedral town of St Asaph - both historic and important towns of North Wales - but to have this big urban centre being marked as a city helps create more of a balance between north Wales and some of the urban centres of the South.

"I think that's very good for the cohesion of Wales and the sense of Wales as one nation as opposed to being separated by large and daunting geography."