IT seems a lifetime since the Xanadu project was revealed, so long have the deliberations taken to rule out Leigh's ice-crystal palace.

But it is really only five years since the futuristic fun zone was revealed to a stunned Press at a high-level meeting in the heart of Wigan Town Hall.

Since that sunny, late summer afternoon, hopes of revitalising Leigh through this scheme have been up, down, the subject of public inquiries, with decisions and deliberations held in abeyance and now, finally, crushed.

The dream scheme which was planned to bring a £200 million leisure complex and a projected 3,000 new jobs to Leigh will NOT go-ahead at Pennington.

This week, Stephen Byers, the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, upheld the findings of Local Government Inspector, Mr J M Turner, who ruled after public inquiries that planning permission be refused in respect of both Xanadu and Kenyon Junction proposals.

Relating to the borough's Unitary Development Plan, The Secretary of State in particular agrees that "while the site lies in a Defined Urban Area, there is no express support in the plan for a major scheme of this nature."

He also felt that the physical suitability of the site fort the development had not been clearly demonstrated, and was concerned about car parking but he did not agree with the Inspector's finding that it would a "highly damaging feature of its landscape and townscape setting".

He accepted the site was not well located in relation to a town centre and while it would probably benefit the local economy, he felt "jobs created at Xanadu could, in part, be at the expense of others lost locally." He also accepted the inspector's conclusion that a "very significant proportion" of jobs created would be "low wage, part-time service employment" and of "limited benefit in contributing to the pool of skilled, full time jobs available."

Regarding Kenyon Junction, the Secretary of State accepted portions of the site were within the Green Belt and felt the proposal, "principally the link road" is inappropriate within the Green Belt. Aspects of the link road would he felt represent urban encroachment in the countryside.

Mr Byers also agreed there was no clear evidence a proposed station would meet a need for a park-and-ride facility for commuters and, as a result of planning refusal for Xanadu, development at Kenyon Junction could not be justified.