Chichester is competing for the right to have a lord mayor.

The city is one of 15 entrants in a competition being run by the Lord Chancellor's department.

Those competing against Chichester for the honour of lord mayoralty status include Bath, Cambridge, Carlisle, Lancaster and Derby.

Also in the running are Exeter, Gloucester, Lincoln, St Albans, St David's, Salford, Southampton, Sunderland, Wolverhampton and Worcester.

The honour is rarely bestowed, with only 15 being created in the last century.

Bids were invited earlier this year as part of the Queen's Golden Jubilee celebrations next year.

Success would carry no practical benefits but would give the city a mark of distinction and allow the mayor to be called lord mayor.

A spokesman for the organisers of the competition said: "The Lord Chancellor will be responsible for advising the Queen on the successful city, after consulting other ministers as appropriate.

"A lord mayoralty is not, and never has been, a right which can be claimed by a city fulfilling certain conditions.

"But, while there are no criteria for the grant of a lord mayoralty, Her Majesty has agreed that applications from cities of less than 10 years, standing are unlikely to succeed."

The civic leader of Chichester City Council is currently known as the Right Worshipful Mayor.

The holder of the title, retired policeman Michael Shone, was not available to comment today.

But one of his predecessors, Len Eyles, said: "We are all keeping our fingers crossed and hoping it will happen.

"It would be only a title but a tremendous honour and probably one that is a bit overdue.

"Our city charter was granted in 1135 so we are one of the oldest cities in the country."

Factors which will be taken into account include whether the city has a distinctive character.

The Lord Chancellor hopes to announce the results early next year.