A TRUST which preserves East Lancashire’s largest steam engine has suffered a setback in its bid to secure its future.

In August, Bancroft Mill Engine Trust in Barnoldswick, 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 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, amount to over £1,100 a year and is around 10 times the trust’s annual bill for water and sewage.

Now following a request for help, advice and support, including financially, from the trust’s treasurer Tony Nixon, Pendle Council has said it cannot support the trust financially’.

Pendle council leader Mohammed Iqbal said in a letter to Mr Nixon that this was due to ‘significant funding reductions’ in recent years, which has seen them scale back support for charities and voluntary organisations.

Mr Nixon, treasurer of Bancroft Mill Engine Trust said it ‘would have been nice’ to have received financial support but that he understood the council’s position.

He said: “We just took the view that if you don’t ask you don’t get and we understand the council is under a lot of financial pressure.

“We are still in discussions with Water Plus regarding the situation with the drainage charges.”

However Cllr Iqbal said that if all other avenues have been exhausted, the council ‘may review the situation’.

He said: “Pendle’s funding from the government has been reduced by 59 per cent since 2010 (from £13.2m to £5.4m).

“We value the contribution that Bancroft mill makes towards Pendle’s tourism offer and support them in their bid to preserve the steam engine.”

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.

A spokesperson for Water Plus said: “We have continued working with the Trust since they first made contact, to try and find ways to reduce the charge. We have applied as many concessions as we are able to given the nature of the charity.”