LANCASHIRE'S largest steam engine which is based in Barnoldswick is under threat.

Bancroft Mill Engine Trust was established in 1986 as a charity to preserve the last remaining two-cylinder cross-compound steam engine built by William Roberts of Nelson.

This 650 horsepower engine powered Bancroft Mill in Barnoldswick from the day it opened in 1920 as the town’s 13th cotton mill until it closed at the end of 1978, by which time it was the last mill running in the town.

A group of interested local people got together, including some former employees of the mill, and with assistance from Pendle Council were able to preserve the engine, boiler and some of the buildings as an important feature of the town’s cotton heritage.

The trust, staffed entirely by volunteers, has continued maintaining and running the engine on a regular basis.

But according to the trustees, the existence of the trust, and hence the engine, is now under threat as a result of swingeing Highways Drainage charges being levied by United Utilities and their successor company Waterplus.

This charge is a flat rate annual charge based on the area of the site. At over £1,100 a year this is around ten times the trust’s annual bill for water and sewage.

As a registered charity, there is a statutory discount of 80 per cent on their business rates but trustees say there seems to be no exemption from the Highways Drainage charges for charities.

"Buildings such as Scout huts and places of worship pay a much-reduced charge but this does not apply to charities generally," said the trust’s treasurer, Tony Nixon.

The trust has so far resisted making payment and they have not been pressed for payment us for several years - until last month.

If they pay the arrears it will wipe out their development reserves and the ongoing annual payment is likely to absorb their small annual operating surplus.

Trustees added that without a major reduction in this charge or significant additional financial support they will have no funds for essential maintenance on the boiler and chimney and thus will be forced to wind up the charity in the next few years, with the resultant loss to the public of the engine, and with it an important part of the national industrial heritage.