THE stage is now set for the biggest sporting spectacular ever to be seen in the North West of England.

The Commonwealth Games in Manchester, centrepiece of the Queen's Jubilee celebrations, are expected to provide a massive boost to the economy of East Lancashire as visitors from far and wide pour into the region later this month.

Organisers are trumpeting the event as the biggest and most successful Commonwealth Games ever -- and with good cause.

A total of £170 million, paid by Sport England lottery funding, has been used to provide new venues for the games. About 4,500 new jobs will be created and 40 hectares of land has been reclaimed for Sportcity, two miles from Manchester city centre, which includes an indoor tennis centre, the National Squash Centre and indoor and outdoor athletics tracks.

Frances Done, chief executive of games organisers M2002, told a press conference at the new City of Manchester Stadium that the promotion of areas across the North West as tourism hot spots was happening in a big way.

"Because of the difficulties of foot and mouth and visitors declining in numbers, huge investment has been put in by the Government and the North West Tourist Board to promote Britain as a place for sport and tourism," she said.

The £10 million stadium is the centrepiece of Sportcity and next year will become home to Manchester City Football Club, which returns to the Premiership next month.

The stadium exterior is modern and dramatic, although its construction materials provide little contrast to the sky on a grey Mancunian day. Inside, the bright blue seats create a cheerful arena enclosing a running track and an immaculately prepared grassed area for field events.

Car parking on the site will be supplemented for the duration of the games by a number of "park and walk" schemes, most under 1km from the site, and many spectators will be bussed in.

The games start on July 25 and a host of top athletes will be competing. Expected competitors include GB Sydney Olympic 2000 medallists such as Jonathan Edwards and Tanni Grey-Thompson and local cycling hero Jason Queally.

FACTFILE:

The Commonwealth Games will take place in Manchester from July 25 to August 4.

Two hundred royalty and heads of government are expected to attend the opening ceremony.

The event will be transmitted to 110 countries and a worldwide television audience of one billion is expected to watch the games live.

The City of Manchester Stadium contains 1,000 toilets.

The stadium will become home to Manchester City Football Club in 2003 when, after the removal of the athletics track, the seating capacity will be increased to 48,000.

150,000 condoms will be supplied for athletes' use.

Eight thousand medical incidents are expected to be dealt with by medical staff.

The cost of providing new venues for the games is £170 million, paid by Sport England lottery funding.

Sponsors include Microsoft Ltd, Cadbury Ltd and Asda. Official partners include United Utilities, Xerox, First Group and Boddingtons.

TICKET INFORMATION:

TICKETS for many of the 17 sports -- including athletics, boxing, hockey, judo, netball, rugby, table tennis and weightlifting -- are still available.

There are a limited number of tickets for the opening ceremony (£195 each) and the closing ceremony (£160 and £100) still available.

Tickets can be bought from box office outlets at the Manchester Arena and Ticket Master.

Tickets are available online from www.commonwealthgames.com or by telephoning 0870 162 2002.