THE Government is being asked to provide money to ensure the Leigh area has regular, reliable bus services.

MP Andy Burnham this week in Parliament raised the case of the resurrected 595 bus service to highlight the need for reliable bus services to all housing estates.

When evening and Sunday services covering Leigh -- Westleigh -- Abbey Lane (service 595) were withdrawn earlier this year, many residents were left stranded, particularly the elderly and those without access to a car.

Mr Burnham took up the residents' concerns with GMPTA, which promised to look into potential solutions, including re-routing the 583 service.

That service has now been introduced but will be kept under review and is on a use-it-or-lose-it basis. But, while some see this as a good solution, Mr Burnham pointed out that it does not address the issue of the way bus services are provided and regulated.

He said: "The return of this much-needed service is really good news and I thank Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Authority for responding so constructively to the concerns that we put to them. But it is important that people use the service or we may face the same problem again.

"While this short-term problem has been resolved, it doesn't address the more fundamental problem of the way bus services are provided. A town like Leigh, with no rail service, needs reliable and permanent bus services to all of its local estates.

"Now that the government has dealt with Railtrack, I am urging ministers to tackle that other Tory transport folly of bus deregulation."