FIVE million visitors a year and 2,500 permanent new jobs could soon be coming to Leigh, writes BRIAN GOMM.

The ice age dream this week took a major step towards reality.

A formal application to build the stunning Xanadu pleasuredome complex on Leigh Community Sixth Form College site was officially submitted to planners.

And it will mean the Marshall Street college being relocated on a more central site.

A year after mind-blowing leisure, aquatics and winter indoor sports complex plans were revealed, the £150 million Xanadu project has sensationally moved into top gear.

London-based Moorfield Estates Plc is combining with Greenbank Partnerships, working hand-in-hand with Disneyland snow makers Acer Snowmec and Wigan Council, to scheme Britain's largest indoor leisure project.

The 1,500,000 sq ft complex on the 78-acre Marshall Street college and playing fields site will be topped by an awe-inspiring 75 metres high, domed 'Taj Mahal'-type building which will be seen for miles.

Internationally-acclaimed architect Dave Walker described the snowdome as a "significant and symbolic building".

And Malcolm Clulow, chairman of Midlands-based Acer Snowmec - inventor and snowmaker to Disney - said: "It's not snow inside a shed!

"This is a national centre. We will not build another centre of anything like this proportion in the UK.

"IT'S CLOSE TO BEING THE LARGEST IN THE WORLD."

The Xanadu experience would be transportation in time with oompah bands, lederhosen and real fir trees recreating the best Alpine atmosphere, dry and clean, all year round. And he emphasised: "We want reality."

And that reality will include a ceiling which disappears in a flurry of snow, mountains and projected laser clouds and an Alpine village complete with frozen fountain!

The regional landmark would become an international tourist attraction - and it will be ready for the Millennium.

Backers say it would send an estimated FIVE MILLION people a year rushing into Leigh.

They also say 5,000 temporary construction jobs and 2-2,500 permanent jobs would be created.

Jubilant Leigh-based Council Leader Cllr Peter Smith said: "A year ago Xanadu was a fantastic possibility. Now it has become a reality. Nobody believed it was going to happen.

"We are on the verge of a development that would transform the region and the lives of thousands of people. Clearly there will be a leakage of money into the local economy.

"Moorfields have undoubted commercial clout and I am confident their expertise is the final piece in the jigsaw that will ensure this amazing complex is built.

"The effect on jobs and the image of the area will be incalculable and it will certainly be a massive boost for the economic prospects of the North West.

"I am particularly pleased to see plans incorporate the aquatics centre which is where it all started.

"I acknowledge the support and advice we have received from English Partnerships, the Wigan Borough Partnership and officials at the Government Office (North West). Their encouragement has been so important." He said there had been a good local reaction to the project and an environmental impact study had proved favourable. The scheme would tie in with plans to move the Pennington Flash golf course to an area off Plank Lane to expand the country park.

Council Chief Executive Stephen Jones described Xanadu as "an enormous project" and said the Pennington site was a key national location - "probably the best in the country" for what would be the largest indoor snow centre in Europe.

Private backers have been attracted by the money-spinning potential of creating a unique theme park situated in a catchment area housing 20 million people within a 90-minute drive.

Drawing power will be provided by a major international and tourist destination incorporating a megaplex (15-plus screen) cinema and virtual reality screen experiences including turbo rides and giant screen theatre.

Ski runs, snowboarding facilities and an alpine village will be features with a 50m competition pool, large leisure pool, 80,000 sq ft hotel and a further 600,000 sq ft set aside for leisure and upmarket retail plus bars and restaurant.

The aquatics centre and junior sports academy centre, which could cost as much as £33million, has already been approved in principle by the Sports Lottery Evaluation Panel and the English Sports Council.

Alex MacLachlan, Moorfield's project leader, confirmed: "There's nothing like it in the UK. It's unique."

Adding that the aim was to have Xanadu up and running for the year 2000, Mr MacLachlan said the complex would take 18 months to two years to build.

He said Xanadu would be backed by private sector funding adding: "We are serious about getting it built."

Wigan and Leigh College marketing manager Brian Dean described Xanadu, and what it would mean for college progress, as "an extremely exciting project."

He added: "Marshall Street is coming to the end of its life as a building although it provides some of the best sixth form education in the North West."

He said that provision could be significantly enhanced and it may be possible to re-site the facility near to the current £3 million Coniston Street redevelopment.

Mr Dean added: "This would allow us to centralise the Leigh provision - Railway Road, Coniston Street and a new sixth form college."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.