THREE MPs have given their support to a proposed £75million Leigh Sports Village as the project enters a crucial stage.

Leigh MP Andy Burnham has been joined by Ashton-in-Makerfield's Ian McCartney and Wigan's Neil Turner of Wigan in a fight to make the Sports Village project a reality.

The complex, which would be based on land between Marshall Street and Atherleigh Way, would boast a 10,000 all-seater stadium to be used by Leigh Centurions Rugby League Club and Leigh RMI Football Club, as well as a synthetic athletic track for Leigh Harriers and a new sixth-form college. There would be office space and corporate facilities along with leisure and retail areas.

A planning application is expected to be submitted by the developer to Wigan Council in the next few days.

The MPs told the director of the Government Office for the North West at a meeting last week that the project would bring benefits to Leigh and the surrounding area.

Mr Burnham has also spoken in the House of Commons about the importance of the scheme.

And he urged the Leigh public to support the proposal, to avoid a repeat of the much-heralded Xanadu project -- which collapsed after a long planning inquiry in 2001.

Mr Burnham said: "We want to maximise public support for the project and try and avoid a public inquiry, so we don't have a repeat of the disappointment of the Xanadu project falling through."

A model of the state-of-the-art Sports Village was unveiled last month at Leigh Library by Andy Burnham, Centurions head coach Paul Terzis and RMI manager Mark Patterson.