'Best thing' - Andy Burnham wants to extend bus route that has helped transform Greater Manchester town

The V1 between Leigh and Manchester has reportedly brought more investment and made commuters’ lives much easier. But Andy Burnham believes the route has more to give and claims his team is ‘looking into’ how to expand the route towards Leigh Sports Village.

Appearing in BBC Manchester’s hotseat, Mr Burnham received a call from Leigh resident Jan, who called the V1 the ‘best thing that’s happened in Leigh for quite a long time’.

The rapid transit bus service was rolled out in 2016 while Andy Burnham was MP for Leigh in an effort to connect Leigh, Atherton, Tyldesley and Ellenbrook to Manchester city centre via Salford. Before it launched, residents of Leigh had to use a slow stopping service or fork out for a taxi to Atherton train station, Jan explained.

Mr Burnham said: “I would like to extend the V1 to Leigh Sports Village as well. That might help people who live on that side of Leigh, but also if there’s any events on at the sports village. I’ve asked my team to look into that: could it turn around sometimes at the Leigh Sports Village?”

He also joked that his idea for a ‘guided busway’ as MP was dismissed at the time.

“People called it the ‘misguided busway’ and said no one would use it,” he recalled. “But here we are, 10, 15 years later and it’s really coming through. We all want Leigh to move forward more quickly but you can see it’s beginning to. There’s more residential development, because younger people can afford to live there and can get to the city.”

Mr Burnham added that though he ‘would like Leigh to have a train station’, the V1 is ‘actually much cheaper than it would ever be to catch a train’ as tickets are capped at £2 under the Bee Network ticketing scheme.