More than 30 key organisations are teaming up in a bid to transform Wrexham into “one of the best places in the world to grow up”.
They came together at an event called WrexChange that was designed to showcase and harness the growing sense of optimism, ambition and investment in the city
Among those taking part were senior leaders from business, culture, education, sport, the voluntary sector and local government.
The meeting at Coleg Cambria was organised by Wrexham City Board (WCB) which has secured £20 million in funding from the UK Government’s Pride in Place Programme to invest in local people’s priorities over a 10-year period.
In just two hours the audience heard 15 five-minute presentations and 10 rapid fire 60 second updates from other organisations delivering or planning major projects across the area.
According to WCB chair Rachel Clacher, co-founder of the hugely successful Wrexham-based Moneypenny and founder of the WeMindTheGap young people’s charity, everybody in the room had a shared purpose to connect and coordinate the work being done to change Wrexham for the better.
She said the eyes of the world were now on the city, thanks to the continuing success of the football club and the global popularity of the club’s owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac’s Welcome to Wrexham Disney+ documentary series
She said: “We all know that Wrexham is in an extraordinary moment.
“No other town or city in the world has the opportunity that we have right now.
“That combination of opportunity and momentum and attention that we currently have is something that we cannot waste.
“The WrexChange event captured both the enormity of the opportunity facing Wrexham and the responsibility to seize it.
“No other town or city has quite the combination of global attention, momentum and local ambition that we have right now.
“WrexChange is about joining the dots between the brilliant things already happening
“If we work together, we can turn this moment into something generational.
“My ambition through that collaboration is that we could become one of the best cities in the world to grow up in – why not aim high?”
It was a view echoed by Amanda Evans, director of Wrexham’s bid to be named UK’s City of Culture in 2029.
She said: “You’ve got the key players around the table and the influencers who can actually make a difference.
The City Board are talking about £20 million. Through City of Culture, we are talking about potentially £200 million — and together we can lever even more.
What matters is that we are aligned.”
Business leaders like Alex Jones, owner of The Bank Wine Bar & Bistro and lead for Wrexham Business Improvement District, are also backing the WrexChange initiative.
He said: ““It’s vital that the business community is deeply involved in what’s happening across the city.
“WrexChange was well-attended, high-energy and positive. It felt like we were looking at the bigger picture together.”
Meanwhile, Dawn Roberts-McCabe, Chief Officer of the Association of Voluntary Organisations in Wrexham (AVOW), described the event as unique.
“It is very rare that business, local government and the third sector all come together like that,” she said.
“There was definitely a buzz in the room.
“It gave a real flavour of everything that is happening in Wrexham right now — and it felt like a springboard moment.”
Jamie Edwards, Head of Foundation and Community for Wrexham AFC, also spoke at WrexChange
He said: “Anything that brings our communities together is something that we want to be involved in all the time.
“From the football club’s point of view, what the takeover and ownership have done is give the area hope and confidence we can achieve things.
“It’s nice to get the right people in the room speaking so passionately about the future of Wrexham.
“The development of the city is what the ownership and the football club wants to do.
“They want to develop the whole community and not just the football club, because they go hand-in-hand.”
According to Wrexham City Board Programme Manager Lisa Scully, the event marked the start of a new way of working across the county borough
She said: “The inaugural WrexChange event was a real success in bringing partners together and generating positive energy — and now we need to build on that momentum.
“We created space for organisations to understand what each other is doing and identify where stronger collaboration can make our collective investment go further.
“While the City Board is responsible for delivering the Pride in Place programme over the next 10 years, we also see our role as a convenor and connector across Wrexham.
“By working in a more joined-up way and continuing to involve our communities, we can ensure the benefits are felt right across the county borough.”
Videos of every speaker from the inaugural WrexChange event have been recorded and will be made available online, with highlights to be shared ahead of the next WrexChange gathering.
The next event, scheduled for early summer, will build on this momentum and energy and will be focused on engaging with members of local communities and the general public, giving residents the opportunity to hear directly about the projects shaping Wrexham’s future — and explore how they can get involved.
