Welcome to Wigan, an exciting and vibrant borough, encompassing Wigan and Leigh towns, serving approximately 320,000 residents. Geographically it lies between the major cities of Manchester and Liverpool and affords great transport links, making Wigan an ideal destination to live, work and visit.
Wigan’s Parks and Countryside
Complemented by many outdoor spaces to enjoy, the Wigan borough has plenty of great places to visit. Our residents enjoy living close to beautiful countryside, as 70% of Wigan’s 77 square miles is green open space. This ‘Greenheart’ includes stunning flashes, woodlands, wetlands, canals and green space. It is a great place for outdoor activities for all the family to explore.
Wigan is also home to many high quality and beautifully maintained parks such as Mesnes Park and Lilford Park. For the more adventurous, Haigh Woodland Park has a high ropes course, mini golf, train rides and nature walks as well as the chance to see the grand Haigh Hall, dating back to the early 19th century and owned by Lord Crawford.
Education and schools
Education across the borough is something we are very proud of, with 89% of primary schools and 88% of secondary schools being rated as good or outstanding. If you want to start a career in education, there are lots of opportunities within schools or corporately in the council’s children’s services teams. The council works closely with schools and academies and you can find jobs at schools on our site including teaching assistants, teachers and support staff. The council also runs a service called Metrofresh who recruit to school crossing patrols, cooks, general assistants, kitchen assistants, caretakers and cleaners.
Sporting success
Wigan and Leigh has a strong sporting tradition, embedding passion and belief within the community. The amateur sports scene is well established across the borough; with a wide range of sports clubs ensuring people are able to enjoy regular physical activity.
Invest in Wigan
Wigan is a great place to do business. Wigan is a borough which is open for business and actively encourages businesses to locate here and flourish.
Recent success stories include Poundland securing a new distribution centre in the borough, marking one of the biggest job boosts for Wigan in many years. The development will provide up to 650 new jobs over the next three years, with the potential for a further 150 jobs as the business grows. Nice Pak International has opened its new £40m manufacturing base at Westwood Park which will create wet-wipes to distribute across the world and will create 100 new jobs. In order to showcase the great businesses in the borough Wigan Council runs one of the biggest business expos in the North West.
Moving to Wigan
Wigan has excellent housing stock of 142,000 covering a good range of property types and locations. House prices are affordable and there are opportunities for shared ownership schemes. Wigan Council has a high quality stock of 25,000 council properties. Careers are available in the council’s housing service. The council also has plans to enable the building of 10,000 homes in the next 10 years to ensure that the number of new homes matches demand in the borough.
Events
As a town we host a number of events throughout the year including:
- Half marathon (March)
- Armed forces day (June)
- Wigan Pride (August)
- The Wigan 10K (September)
- Business Expo (October)
- Christmas markets (November - December)
- Santa’s parade (November)
- Christmas lights switch on (November)
- Town centre events including continental markets run throughout the year
If you have a passion for the place and a desire to serve the public through new ways of working then Wigan could be the place for your next career move. If you take pride in all that you do take a look at the opportunities available.