DISAPPOINTED at the Xanadu decision Leigh MP Andy Burnham presents his view of the situation to Journal readers and shares with them his hopes for the future. WELL, at least the waiting and uncertainty is over.

But that is about the only good thing that can be said about the decision to block the proposed Xanadu scheme.

The planning inspector accepts that it would "benefit the local economy ... and ... provide employment within the leisure services and retail sector".

Sound reasons, you might think, for approving a scheme to bring much-needed regeneration to a former coalfield. But no. In the inspector's view, the business would be won at the expense of other local areas and the jobs created would not be worth having.

His arguments simply do not stack up. He claims Leigh town centre would suffer. If that was the case, why do most town centre businesses support Xanadu? Because, like many others, they realised it would bring visitors back to Leigh.

The inspector claims other local towns would be hit because Xanadu would allow Leigh to compete with them for a share of the valuable leisure market.

What, may I ask, is wrong with that? Why shouldn't Leigh be entitled to a share of this fast-growing sector? That is what Xanadu was all about -- a fairer slice of the cake for an area that has been neglected for too long.

A lot of young families have moved into this area but work outside of it. They have few options to spend leisure time and money here and have to look further afield for days out.

Xanadu would have helped keep this money in the local economy but would also have brought new business to the North West. Why else would it have the support of the North West Development Agency?

But the bit of the report that really beggars belief is the dismissal of the thousands of new jobs that Xanadu would have created. The inspector concludes that "a very significant proportion of the new jobs to be created would be relatively low-wage, part-time service employment", adding that "the nature of the employment might be of limited benefit in contributing to the pool of skilled, full-time jobs available".

In other words, the thousands of permanent jobs that would be created are not worth having.

Try telling that to people who are out of work or to those working for struggling manufacturing companies whose jobs are under threat.

The truth is that Xanadu would have brought a mix of jobs, some part-time and some full-time, some low-skilled and some high-skilled. To suggest that an area like this can do without jobs of any kind shows just how out of touch some people are in positions of authority.

The fact is Xanadu was the only option on the table that would have helped Leigh's economy make a real leap forward.

There is no recognition of the knock-on development it would have brought. At very least, it would have helped Wigan & Leigh College move to new purpose-built premises.

I understand the concerns some people had. But I believe the majority of people in Leigh wanted it for the all-round boost of confidence it would have given the town. That is why I have backed it since elected and will now lead the work to find alternative solutions for Leigh.

Because difficult as it is, we have to move on. It is not the end of the world. Leigh has a lot to offer. There are other ways to achieve the same benefits that Xanadu would have brought.

There are some positives. For the first time in ages, we have succeeded in focusing attention on Leigh and its need for new investment.

Over the next few weeks, I will take advantage of this and press home our case. My message to people in power will be - 'It's not good enough just to turn us down. If this wasn't the answer, tell us what is? What are you going to do for Leigh?'

Because as long as I am MP for this area, I won't let them forget about us.