SPORTS Village leaders have launched Leigh's Olympic 2012 bid.

Leigh and District Sports Partnership president and chairman, MP Andy Burnham and ex police chief Trevor Barton, have volunteered facilities to the London Olympics organisers.

In a letter to Charles Allen, chairman of the organising body's new Nations and Regions Group, Mr Barton said: "We are actually starting to build Leigh Sports Village and the whole complex should be complete by the end of 2007.

"It will provide a 10,000 seater stadium, an eight-lane running track with all the associated athletic requirements, a 50m indoor running track, student accommodation, a 100 bed hotel, conference facilities, a 25m swimming pool, gymnasium, sports hall, college, bowling alley, cinema, bars and restaurants, and six pitches (three floodlit). Over 20 different sports have been accommodated in the plan.

"With the 70 acre site being flat, the facilities will be excellent as regards Paralympics sports and the like.

"We are absolutely delighted that London has won the bid. Our area was very active in supporting the Manchester bids of 1992 and 1996 and we have a very strong history of volunteering. In the first instance, we would like to know if Wigan and Leigh could play their part in supporting the Olympic bid. We have always been of the view that the Leigh Sports Village, with its wet and dry sports facilities in a learning environment, would be attractive to visiting teams in preparation for large sporting events. One could envisage regional paralympics squads training there or athletics squads visiting the region for important meets. During the concept phase and the design phase the London Olympic bid was very much on our wish list and although we did not design the Village specifically for the London Olympics, it does seem, in our opinion, to fit the bill.

"We recognise that we are 190 miles from London but, with the very quick West Coast railway link and the airport being only 15 miles away, the links to the capital grow ever smaller.

"We are also in the process of employing the services of an Arts Co-ordinator to ensure that there is access to performing and visual arts throughout the whole site."

An excited Mr Burnham said: "The Sports Village would be perfect as an Olympics training camp. This is a sign of our confidence in the project and if the offer is taken up it would be the crowning glory and cement our position as a regional and national facility."