AN appeal has gone out to Leigh residents to sign a petition FOR the town's new Sports Village complex and help bring a two year £75m dream to reality.

When the much-acclaimed Xanadu scheme at Pennington was knocked back, the Leigh and District Sports Development Partnership decided to continue the fight to bring the best of leisure and sporting facilities to the town to replace the tired, existing venues and give Leigh something special.

Now they want the people, who are in the habit of claiming that Leigh gets nothing while Wigan gets everything, to come out in force to support the scheme and help it through the planning stages.

Partnership members have worked hard consulting with clubs, residents and council officers and the final scale model plan is on show in Leigh Library, along with the petition, until Saturday. It has been acclaimed by everyone I have met who has taken time out to see it.

Already over 250 people from schoolchildren to pensioners have put pen to paper to give the scheme the thumbs up.

If the development is given the green light at the end of the month the site between Marshall Street and Atherleigh Way will become a mecca for the community. Not only will there be a new state of the art sixth form college, but stadia, retail and commercial leisure facilities for all.

Obviously not everyone will be happy to welcome the new developments concerned with the changes on their doorsteps, but surely such a forward looking scheme should be embraced to bring Leigh into the 21st century and upwards and onwards.