Earlier this month, Milton Keynes officially submitted its fourth city bid.
Next year, Her Majesty the Queen will have reigned for 70 years and several cities will be established as part of The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations.
Applicants were asked to talk about the distinct identity and community which they felt meant that their area deserved to become a city, as well as the royal associations of their area.
Milton Keynes Council has bought together more than 50 knowledgeable people and organisations to develop the bid, which is received by The Queen and her senior advisors.
In England, Milton Keynes is up against the likes of Bournemouth, Colchester, Crewe, Doncaster, Guildford, Reading and neighbouring town Northampton.
Eight areas n Scotland have applied for city status, including Dumfries and St Andrews.
In Wales, Wrexham has submitted a bid and in Northern Ireland, Ballymena, Coleraine and Bangor have applied.
As well as this, British Overseas Territory Gibralter has submitted a bid for a chance at city status alongside George Town in the Cayman Islands and Stanley in the Falkland Islands.
The full list can be found at the bottom of this article.
The government says that winning city status can provide a boost to local communities and open up new opportunities for people who live there.
Previous winners Perth and Preston are examples of where the local economies benefited from their improved national and global standing.
There’s been a wealth of public support in Milton Keynes, with hundreds of residents submitting photographs of their favourite local places.
The Council also ran a competition with local pupils to design a ‘flag for MK’. A design created by 12-year-old Thea Callaghan from St Paul’s Catholic School was chosen as the winner.
Thea’s flag has now been made into a real flag that can be seen flying in the city centre.
You can find out more about Milton Keynes' bid here.
Mayor of Milton Keynes Mohammed Khan said: “I’ve been delighted by how many local people have shown their support for the bid so far, including the hundreds of citizens who shared photographs of their favourite places, and all those children and young people who designed a flag for Milton Keynes.
"I’d also like to say thank you to the knowledgeable people and organisations who gave up their time to work on the bid itself and share why Milton Keynes is such a deserving candidate to receive this special honour. If city status was granted based on the strength of feeling that people have for their home, then we would be in no doubt of being named a city for the Platinum Jubilee.”
You can find out more here.
Full list of places which applied for city status:
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Alcester, Warwickshire
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Ballymena, County Antrim
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Bangor, County Down
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Blackburn, Lancashire
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Bolsover, Derbyshire
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Boston, Lincolnshire
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Bournemouth, Dorset
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Coleraine, County Londonderry
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Colchester, Essex
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Crawley, West Sussex
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Crewe, Cheshire
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Doncaster, South Yorkshire
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Dorchester, Dorset
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Douglas, Isle of Man
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Dudley, West Midlands
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Dumfries, Dumfries and Galloway
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Dunfermline, Fife
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Elgin, Moray
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George Town, Cayman Islands
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Gibraltar, Gibraltar
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Goole, East Yorkshire
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Greenock, Renfrewshire
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Guildford, Surrey
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Livingston, West Lothian
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Marazion, Cornwall
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Medway, Kent
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Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire
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Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire
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Newport and Carisbrooke, Isle of Wight
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Northampton, Northamptonshire
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Oban, Argyll and Bute
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Reading, Berkshire
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Peel, Isle of Man
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St Andrews, Fife
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Stanley, Falkland Islands
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South Ayrshire, Ayrshire and Arran
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Warrington, Cheshire
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Warwick, Warwickshire
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Wrexham, Clwyd
