COULD the Xanadu decision result in a rethink on the Leigh Guided Busway plan?

That is a pertinent point which has set environment campaigner Chris Maile and other members of the anti-busway faction on the warpath again.

Mr Maile told the Journal without Xanadu, there busway was not viable.

"This victory has given new vigour to the Busway Noway Campaign, showing the local community that when they band together they can win." he said.

"We will fight the Busway proposals as hard and as long as we did with Xanadu, as such, we urge the local communities to come on board and support the Busway campaign, both morally and financially, to ensure our ultimate success."

Another hopeful that the Busway plan might be dropped is retired bookmaker Pat Lummis. He lives in Wareing Street, near where the guided-bus route is planned to pass. But now the ski dome complex plans have been dashed, Mr Lummis hopes the guided bus idea will be dropped.

He said: "On the original estimate for the number of customers, the first they said was a million customers a year. They would have to run a bus every 17 minutes and it would have needed 50 passengers in them to reach that target.

"How can they possibly get the number of passengers without Xanadu?"

He added that in his opinion, the guided-bus route is doomed to failure and is a back way for a new road to be developed.

He said: "The guided-bus route wouldn't work, it would just take people more quickly into a traffic jam at Boothstown."

According to Mr Lummis, a Metrolink system would be a better idea.

But Leigh MP Andy Burnham said he could not see that the guided-bus route would be affected by the scrapping of the Xanadu project.

Mr Burnham said: "It should be unaffected by the Xanadu project. There is no linkage between the two projects.

"The guided-bus route is a transport solution for Leigh, although it would have helped if Xanadu had gone ahead." Xanadu is a lost opportunity l LICENSEE of The Moonraker in Leigh, Eustace Collier, has been a Xanadu supporter from the outset.

Disappointed at the decision to over-rule the plan, he is further dismayed that the opportunity to forge ahead with a better transport infrastructure for the area has also been knocked back.

He said: "They've said no to Xanadu, why no to the station? Leigh desperately needs a rail link and the infrastructure at Kenyon is there. Xanadu might be dead but we still need a station with car parking and access for buses and taxis.

"I've yet to meet someone who thought Xanadu was a bad idea except perhaps a few NIMBYs.

"There are no buses to the Trafford Centre on Sundays and Bank Holidays and the last bus back to Leigh from there is 5.30pm, and there are no buses to Liverpool after 6pm."