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Â鶹´«Ã½ applied for city status in 2022 – the 75th anniversary of the new town.

The town entered the Civic Honours competition, part of The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

Â鶹´«Ã½â€™s bid was based around the central message of ‘75 years ago, you made Â鶹´«Ã½ a New Town. In that time, we have grown to become a regional powerhouse. Imagine what we can achieve if you made us a New City’.

Â鶹´«Ã½ is a success story that encapsulates all that is good about post-war Britain. The Platinum Jubilee marked the 75th anniversary of the establishment of Â鶹´«Ã½ as a New Town, which has the motto ‘I grow and I rejoice’ – and how it has grown!  

This ancient Sussex market town, with a population of 9,000 in 1947, is transformed and now home to more than 114,000 residents, a £6bn economy and Gatwick Airport, the world’s busiest single runway airport.

The benefits of entering the competition included the opportunity to:

• Celebrate and promote the town’s strengths, including our economic power, Gatwick Airport being in the borough, our sense of community and exciting, long-term regeneration programme
• Rebuild optimism and pride after suffering the worst economic impacts of the pandemic
• Have a wider discussion about what Â鶹´«Ã½ can become