Lease was sorted and signed by Leigh East but the Council filed it and never signed it,,,,,,,, but if I'm honest the way the last 6 years has gone it wouldn't have been worth the paper it was written on.
Very sad , frustrating to be dealing with local, prominent people who don't really care about anyone except themselves.

I really do hope this gets a lot of airtime as it really isn't a good thing for a council to be indirectly responsible for closing a community sports club that keeps the children active and off the streets (especially after the town football club and all its teams have been lost to the community in similar circumstances).
One wonders what the real agenda was when building a community sports village if it isn't for the actual community these teams actually represent ?
Mr Burnham should be seriously applying political pressure as it doesn't look good for Labour if more children lose a sports club due to a Labour controlled council wanting to make some money from it.

Hi Mr Chairman, sent you a PM mate.

Leigh County Promary School and Sacred Heart lost their playing fields

Do you think this is a Wigan-wide conspiracy Wys?
First they make the Centurions the Wigan Reserve team, then they get rid of our amateur teams. Next the town of Leigh will be renamed "Wigan East".

Can I just ask one question?

Can East PROVE that contracts have been broken? Or is it just promises that have been broken. If they can prove contracts are broken i'll feel a lot better to be honest.

Advocaat I have been telling them that Wiggin will be playing at the WSV next season. It will just start with a couple of on the road games to entice the youngsters of Leigh to support Wiggin. I would be very concerned about what Wiggin Council is doing to Leigh East because it will be Leigh RLFC's turn next and over time they will get kicked out to make way for Wiggin.

I just hope Leigh East can win this battle because it will be Leigh RLFC to be kicked out of the WSV next.

The only team left in Leigh will be Leigh Miners.

It is so obvious to enlightened people like me. Not like yourself Mr. Popular Advocaat :O)

I've merged the two Leigh East threads together, it seems silly to have two going at the same time, talking about the same thing.

They would have to make the LSV a few thousand bigger to accommodate Wigan Graham, they average 15,000 or above and have over 10,000 season ticket holder I believe.

Not a massive job Ian to fill in the corners and reposition the big screens but I think you would still only have just about 15,000.

Still wouldn't be big enough for them in my opinion Tony, and they have no need to leave the DW as they have a massive lease on it.

Whilst like everyone else on here I support Leigh East in this dispute I have to say your theory that Wigan Warriors will take over the LSV next season is bonkers.

The thing is the atmosphere at a sold out extended LSV would be far superior to a third full DW.

That's a joke the bit where he mentions young people having access, and they want to stop the kids from East , can't believe it!

Keith - another email just sent FYI

Just a reminder that the Leigh East problem is being discussed on BBC Radio Manchester at 7.50am (I think).

Good luck to everyone at leigh East. SOme of the best times of my life spent there watching my son play. It would be a tragedy if they folded.
Absoulte shame on Wigan Council. Maybe we should all refuse to pay our council tax.

Can I just ask how much subscriptions are now and how much they would have to be raised by to cover the shortfall?

That's a massive jump Keith and obviously numbers would drop dramatically if prices were raised to such an amount.

Is £4 the norm? Is this the sort of amount that the kids who play at other amateur clubs pay?

Subs were £3 a week when I played for Easts over 20 years ago. With the facilities they have, £4 is a bargain.

Agree that £10 would be too much to ask.

It would be interesting to see what the councils vision is should the club fold (i sincerley hope it doesn't). They would probably lose even more !!

Heres praying for a bit of common sense, and well done to Janet who put Easts side of the story to Beswick well. Its just a pity no-one from the council had to balls to debate it live. Beswick would have had a field day !!

Wigan Council have just tweeted their press release:



[iLeigh East is a valued and valuable part of the borough’s sporting community. The club’s commitment to working with young people is well-known. Like everyone else, we want to see Leigh East grow and thrive and we would urge them to come back to the table and rearrange the meetings with us that they have cancelled.

However, we also have a responsibility to ensure taxpayers’ money is spent appropriately, particularly at a time when the council faces financial pressures due to government cuts. That means our present arrangement with the club cannot continue. For a significant period of time, we have sought to negotiate terms for the club's occupation of the pavilion at Leigh Sports Village with no success. Because the club has never contributed anything to the maintenance costs of the pavilion it means that the residents of the borough have been picking up the bill. As a result the club has left us with little option but to act to put in place arrangements which better reflect the balance between the interests of the club and the wider community.

In order to maximise the potential of the venue and so it can be better used by the local community, the council has decided the bar should no longer be operated exclusively by the club but instead by Leigh Sports Village Company Ltd. The council has assured the club that the pavilion will still be their club house and will remain available for their members to use. Over the past three years the bar has generated average profits of around £10,000 per year. The new arrangements will take away the cost of renting and operating the bar and function room which will compensate for this loss of income.

We recognise the good work the club does with young people and Leigh East is absolutely not being evicted from Leigh Sports Village. We are putting in place arrangements we believe to be fair because we are mindful of the excellent voluntary work the club does. We understand this decision may not be what people connected to Leigh East hoped for but hopefully they will understand the council has a duty to get the best deal for all taxpayers.[/i

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I'd like to know how much the 'maintenance costs of the pavilion' are and how they can justify the fact that in effect they gained a brand new sports pavilion and playing fields for nowt seeing as they got an £810,000 grant to build this for Leigh East.

How can they say they are acting in the interest of spending the tax payers money when the council bailed out the LSV as a whole to the tune of £500,000 last year? they have 2 execs who run the village and are paid over £100,000 a year.

secondly why would they want the bar when they have been franchising there own out? they run very few bars now? the one at the stadium? monaco? let Leigh east franchise it out if thats the case!

Top and bottom every year they move the goal post and offer empty promises, the people we deal with are bullies and are ultimately puppets for LPS. Why should we trust them when everything they have given or offered they have subsequently taken away.

Yours Frustrated parent

Surely as it's 10 grand profit, that would be after all other costs have been considered?! I'm sure the amount they charge from hiring the pitches out, the 6 a side leagues etc would more than cover the maintenance costs.

Spent appropriately !!!!! What, just like the hundreds of 20MPH signs erected all over the borough that 99% of drivers will just ignore. ( I could list many more examples if I had the time).

Get in on question time, now that would be fun and see how many people would back up the council after a open debate with all the cards on the table