THE future of a trust which preserves East Lancashire’s largest steam engine looks brighter after a water company agreed to reduce highways drainage charges.

Bancroft Mill Engine Trust, in Barnoldswick, said it is ‘overjoyed’ after Water Plus has decided to apply concessions to the charges which amount to over £1,100.

The trust said it has also been advised on ways the charges could be reduced further.

It comes as the trust revealed its own future and that of the last remaining two-cylinder cross-compound steam engine, was under threat as it cannot afford to pay the highways drainage charges of over a thousand pounds.

The trust, based in Gillians Lane, said the charges, which have been levied by United Utilities and their successor company Water Plus, are around 10 times the trust’s annual bill for water and sewage.

Ian McKay, the trust’s secretary, said the news would go along way to ‘securing the future’ of the mill and its two steam engines.

He said: “Water Plus has been very helpful and responded to all of our enquiries about the charges for our water promptly.

“We have been in communication for a number of weeks now and we have come to a mutually agreeable solution to the highways water drainage charges.

“There is a charge for this financial year, from April 2017, but Water Plus has applied concessions to the charge which help our charity, the Mill Engine Trust and the pieces of living history we look after.

“ They have also advised us on ways the charge could be reduced further.

“It is clear from our contact with Water Plus that they are a company that care about their customers and their personal and straightforward approach has been helpful for the trust to find a way towards securing the future of Bancroft Mill’s two unique steam engines - one of which is the largest in Lancashire."

Built by William Roberts of Nelson, the 650 HP engine powered Bancroft Mill in Barnoldswick from the day it opened in 1920 as the town’s thirteenth cotton mill until it closed at the end of 1978, by which time it was the last mill running in the town.