25 years on, what has city status done for Wolverhampton? Rival council chiefs share their thoughts. What do you think?

At the time it was a moment of great joy and celebration, a feeling that after decades in the shadows, Wolverhampton was finally being recognised.

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But 25 years on, what difference has it really made? 

Councillor Simon Bennett, leader of the council's opposition Conservative group, was 11 years old at the time the decision was announced, and remembers it as a time of great optimism and hope. But he says that, over the years that followed, the city has failed to progress as everyone hoped.

However, the current man in charge of the city, leader of the council's ruling Labour group, Councillor Stephen Simkins, says billions of pounds have been invested in the city over the past 25 years, with many more plans in the pipeline. He accuses Councillor Bennett of 'talking the city down'. 

Here are their two very different reflections on the City of Wolverhampton as it celebrates its silver anniversary.

Councillor Simon Bennett, leader of the opposition Conservative group on Wolverhampton Council

Wolverhampton is celebrating 25 years since being granted city status as part of the Millennium celebrations.

Express & Star readers will remember the optimism at the time. The headlines were hopeful. The language was ambitious. City status, we were told, would put Wolverhampton on the map, attracting investment, accelerating regeneration and giving the city a stronger national profile.I remember it too — but from a different perspective. 

In 2000, I was 11 years old. Like many local kids, I didn’t understand policy papers or economic strategies. What I remember is the sense that something important was happening, that Wolverhampton was being told it mattered.

Twenty-five years on, as we mark that anniversary today, it is right to ask an honest question: what did city status ever actually do for us?

Let me be clear. I am proud of Wolverhampton. Proud of our people, our history, and proud that we are a city. Civic pride matters. Identity matters.

But city status was sold as more than symbolism.

Express & Star readers will remember the promises made in 2000 — that becoming a city would unlock inward investment, boost confidence and create new opportunities. That it would act as a catalyst for long-term economic renewal.

So it is fair, today of all days, to ask whether those promises were fulfilled.

Did city status transform our local economy?

Did it bring sustained, long-term investment at scale?

Did it meaningfully improve life chances in communities that have struggled for decades?

Or, for many residents, did very little actually change?

The uncomfortable truth is that city status, on its own, is not a policy. It is a label. And labels only work when they are backed by ambition, leadership and a relentless determination to fight for your place.

Over the past 25 years, Express & Star readers will recognise a familiar pattern. Big announcements. Grand regeneration plans. Short-term funding pots dressed up as long-term solutions. Too much focus on headlines, not enough on outcomes.

Meanwhile, other cities took a different approach. They were louder. More demanding. More confident in making the case for infrastructure, skills, transport and economic power. They treated city status not as an achievement, but as a starting gun.

Too often, Wolverhampton has been encouraged to be grateful — grateful for limited funding, grateful for attention, grateful simply to be included. That is not how successful cities behave.

If city status was meant to amplify Wolverhampton’s voice in Whitehall, it has too often gone unheard. If it was meant to rebalance opportunity, too many neighbourhoods still feel left behind. If it was meant to boost confidence, we have spent too long talking ourselves down rather than talking ourselves up.

That does not mean city status was a mistake. But it does mean it was never fully used.

The real question is not whether Wolverhampton would have been better off remaining a town. The real question is whether we have truly acted like a city over the past 25 years.

Cities compete. Cities demand investment. Cities push for their fair share. Cities do not wait patiently, they make their case loudly and persistently.

As Wolverhampton marks 25 years of city status today, this should not just be a moment of celebration. It should be a moment of honesty.

City status didn’t change Wolverhampton.

What will change Wolverhampton is whether we finally decide to use it.

The council leader's reply:

This should be a day of pride for Wolverhampton - 25 years since we became a city. 

It’s a moment to celebrate our people, our resilience, and everything we’ve achieved together.

Sadly, instead of celebrating our city’s progress, Councillor Bennett has once again run to the press to talk Wolverhampton down. Rather than recognising the facts and our achievements, he chooses negativity over pride.

He conveniently chooses to ignore the fact that the challenges our city has faced over the past 25 years didn’t happen in a vacuum.

Despite 14 years of Conservative cuts that stripped billions from councils and slashed services, this Labour council has delivered real change.

We’ve transformed the city centre with the Interchange, i9, and The Halls Wolverhampton.

We’ve built new homes, boosted skills, and secured millions for the Green Innovation Corridor. The City Learning Quarter is already open and we’re not stopping there.

Our ambitious plans to build more homes, create more jobs, and drive regeneration and investment into our great city are clear for all to see.

But as usual, Councillor Bennett has once again resorted to cheap political point-scoring through cheap, lazy, unfounded press headlines like these.

We understand that city status is not a magic wand. It's an opportunity and we’ve worked tirelessly to make the most of it, even when the previous Tory government in Westminster made that harder at every turn.

We now have a supportive Labour government behind us and we’ll work closely with them to secure the best outcomes for our residents - because that’s what real leadership looks like.

Wolverhampton is a great city, and together we’ll keep building it up, no matter how often detractors like Councillor Bennett try to drag it down.

Councillor Stephen Simkins, leader of Wolverhampton Council