Powys County Council chiefs have ruled out a bid for any Powys towns to become the county's first city ahead of a contest to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee next year.

Both Newtown and Machynlleth made a bid for city status in 2000 when a slew of conurbations were set to be granted city status to mark the turn of the millennium, but both lost out to Wolverhampton, Inverness and Brighton and Hove.

But officials from Powys County Council say they have no intention of putting forward any Powys towns for the honour of becoming the county's first city in 2022. A statement from the council said: "Currently, the council has no plans to enter this civic competition."

Both towns made a bid again in 2002, but again the honour went elsewhere, this time to Preston, Newport, Stirling, Lisburn and Newry.

No towns from Powys made a bid at the last opportunity in 2012, but in north Wales the town of Wrexham was left disappointed after missing out to St Asaph - however Wrexham Council has declared it intends to bid again next year.

In neighbouring Shropshire, the county council said there were no plans for Shrewsbury to bid for city status, citing lack of resources as the issue.

Shropshire Council leader Lezley Picton said: "The issue of city status has been looked at numerous times before.

"Given the current focus on post Covid-19 recovery we have decided that our resources are best concentrated on economic and social recovery and delivering important local services.

"We simply do not have the capacity or finances to spend time bidding.”

The UK's official criteria for what constitutes a city remains unclear, but the requirement for an Anglican cathedral was dropped in 1889 to allow Birmingham to gain city status.

Only the town of Brecon is host to a cathedral in Powys, St John's Church In Wales cathedral serving as the seat of the Bishop of Swansea and Brecon.

There are now 69 official UK cities after Rochester, a cathedral city since 1211, lost its city status in 1998 after it neglected to confirm it following a local government reorganisation.

Clwyd South MP and former Llanfyllin mayor Simon Baynes has backed the plans for Wrexham, which is bidding for both city status and to become city of culture in 2025, saying: “Maximising the economic and cultural benefits for Wrexham and the wider county borough will be crucial as we recover together as a community from Covid-19.

"Both of these bids represent real opportunities to turbo-charge our local economy, support our culture and heritage and make the Wrexham area a very attractive place for investment and long-term projects."

Councils have until December 8 to submit a bid.