Douglas and Peel’s rivals in the race to gain city status have been announced.

Thirty-nine places have applied city status, with the Crown Dependencies in the list for the first time.

The competition is being run as part of the celebrations for the Queen’s 2022 Platinum Jubilee.

Organisers say that winning city status can provide a boost to local communities and open up new opportunities for people who live there. They say economies of previous winners Perth and Preston benefited from their improved national and global standing.

But, short of Douglas town councillors being known as Douglas city councillors and Peel having city commissioners, there will be no immediate differences.

Much bigger towns - such as Bournemouth (population 183,000), Middlesbrough (population 147,000) and Blackburn (population 115,000) - are in the running.

But Douglas (population 26,000) and Peel (population 5,300) are by no means the smallest towns to apply for city status.

Stanley in the Falkland Islands has a population of only 2,148.

Steve Barclay, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, a minister in the Westminster government, said: ’City status is not only about local pride, it can deliver real levelling up benefits for businesses and the local area which is clear from the high number of applications. A sincere best of luck to all those who have applied.’

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.

Unlike previous Civic Honours competitions, a panel will work with ministers to make their recommendations, before being officially approved by the Queen.

The full list:

Alcester, Warwickshire

Ballymena, County Antrim

Bangor, County Down

Blackburn, Lancashire

Bolsover, Derbyshire

Boston, Lincolnshire

Bournemouth, Dorset

Coleraine, County Londonderry

Colchester, Essex

Crawley, West Sussex

Crewe, Cheshire

Doncaster, South Yorkshire

Dorchester, Dorset

Douglas, Isle of Man

Dudley, West Midlands

Dumfries, Dumfries and Galloway

Dunfermline, Fife

Elgin, Moray

George Town, Cayman Islands

Gibraltar, Gibraltar

Goole, East Yorkshire

Greenock, Renfrewshire

Guildford, Surrey

Livingston, West Lothian

Marazion, Cornwall

Medway, Kent

Middlesborough, North Yorkshire

Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire

Newport and Carisbrooke, Hampshire

Northampton, Northamptonshire

Oban, Argyll and Bute

Reading, Berkshire

Peel, Isle of Man

St Andrews, Fife

Stanley, Falkland Islands

South Ayrshire, Ayrshire and Arran

Warrington, Cheshire

Warwick, Warwickshire

Wrexham, Clwyd

The panel who will decide are: Peter Lee: Director of Constitution at the Cabinet Office; Ben Dean: Director for Sport, Gambling and Ceremonials at the Department of Culture, Media and Sport; Catherine Francis: Director General, Local Government and Public Services at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities; Laurence Rocky: Director, Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland; Roger Lewis: President of Amgueddfa Cymru (National Museum Wales); Kate Mavor: Chief Executive Officer, Heritage England; Lord Neil Mendoza: Commissioner, Cultural Recovery and Renewal and Kathryn Thomson: Chief Executive Officer, National Museums NI