Some well thought out aims there.

I think 'letterheads with a Leigh logo' is the one which will sway most folk.

Or maybe the one about the land being flat. Thats a one way ticket to a local building boom is that. It will be great to rip up the bypass too and return it to rail. Can't wait.

No whips is a good one too. S&M has never really floated my boat.

Would totally support this a concept, but we need to know the full story. For example..would it be more expensive to run a Leigh Council separately and if so, how much would council tax have to go up to pay for it? Would we lose anything by not being part of Wigan..? Where would LSV fit in? How do you actually go about breaking away and forming your own council?

Don't get me wrong, I would love Leigh to be independent (even from 3000 miles away) but that is from an emotional angle - would love to see all the facts as well..

Well all the above came home to me when I was travelling through Warringotn the other day. The name Leigh has disappearred off some of the signs coming out of town. They just say W"£$n.

Its gone too far now to be able reverse things. Apathy won the day unfortunately.
If it means paying even more money via my most hated of taxes then forget it.

To be quite honest, a complete and even partial breakaway is [ivery[/i unlikely. I'd be quite happy to just see a degree of powersharing and a renaming of the borough to become "Leigh and Wigan MBC" or summat along those lines.

They are trying for it in Atherton as well.

Believe that's a separate effort from Leigh though - there'd be far more chance of it happening if it was a Leyth, Bent and Bongs council IMHO.

hopefully i'll live to see the day but if you dont get all the towns on this side of wigans borough thinking the same way and working towards the same goals you've got no chance one town on its own is not big enough to influence the thinking in london

I don't think the leaflet was intend to be a Leythers Manifesto, it was just that I took a few moment to talk to them, I was the only person given one, they both run local businesses ( I presume Susan Canning is part of Cannings) and feel that enough is enough and that it's about time the people of Leigh stood up for themselves.

They're obviously not on their own they've received 500 signatures in 3 days.

If that happens I will start my own campaign to get Tyldesley out of Leigh!!!

cant be any worse

I'll be signing up tomorrow without hesitation.

Leigh Centurions should also get behind this initiative in my opinion. It's time the club stood up for it's people in this kind of manner.

Our Town, Our Team, Our Dream.

and I would support you, Tyldesley should be in Salford

swinton might argue against that point

I know it was a bit flippant but its not exactly the best bit of political agenda is it?

If he/she is serious, a bit of homework would have been an idea. The hearts in the right place but it's no weight behind it at all other than romance, local pride, and ''Blame Wigan'

Maybe looking into what is generated from the townsfolk in taxes and what is invested back, what opportunities there are from the NWDA or EU, that kind of thing. How can we sustain education, health, housing? Simple things like that.

If you're going to do it, do it properly.

It might be taken more seriously by folk up the food chain than saying 'Leigh is good because the land is flat'.

And with the world being flat, it makes us the centre of the world. A flat capper's dream, so to speak.

a small bang can start an avalanche mate

Won't happen mate, as ideal as it sounds.

Folk have continued to vote the same useless local coucillors (coz me dad voted labour, and his dad, and his dad) in these parts for years, and in return they've done nowt but turn up to committee meetings and eat the butties.

Who's pointing the fingers at them? What has your local councillor done about your ward? Do you ever see them other than at voting time? Do they ever get together, go out, and try and attract outside investment?

Until they wake up and realise they are toothless and have allowed the town to decline then there's no chance of anything changing.

But no, we still vote them in, time and time again.

not me mate.until this town is out of the clutches of that town i will never vote locally and more than likely never vote nationally

Trouble is Steve whats the alternative? saying that I e mailed my three ward councillors re the Leigh East 'situation' only the two tories replied, the community action guy hasn't as yet and its well over a week ago, ive never voted tory in my life and wouldnt do so nationally but locally well....

A deliberate ploy to lower the status of Leigh below Wigan? I'd love to hear the evidence for that.

Plenty of development is being earmarked for Leigh. The main objective for future planning policy in Wigan and Leigh is to improve the links between the two towns, so the borough isn't so divided.

Leigh wouldn't have a heavy rail track whether it was in Wigan, on its own or in another Council? That is never going to happen, unfortunately.

Saying get Leigh out of Wigan, where would you stop with that? Should Wigan go back to being 14 urban districts like it used to be?

Wigan Council struggles having a population of over 300,000 paying into the coffers, so how would a Leigh council be viable?

Maybe voting for tories as councillors is the thing to do. Even tho I have voted Labour most of my time, I have always been dubious about Labour run councils with them more interested in spending than cutting the bills.
They would save money on 5,000,000 Wigan Magazines being delivered around Leigh/Atherton/Tyldesley for starters - who wants to read about Wigan for goodness sake.

It's not about spending or cutting spending , it's about value for money and getting the best use of that money