'THREE major announcements' will be made at a public meeting on plans to bring Leigh’s largest building into active use for the benefit of the community.

The secret developments have been hailed the 'biggest step forward' for Leigh Spinners Mill's restoration project.

The Leigh Building Preservation Trust will hold the meeting at Bedford High School from 7pm on Monday, November 27.

Chairman Peter Rowlinson said: "This public meeting will be to announce our biggest step forward for the Leigh Spinners project and we are delighted that we will be able to confirm that a major objective has now been achieved so soon after the opening of our new heritage centre in our scutching room."

The trust was established in 2013 to restore the Park Lane mill, which dates back to 1913, and has completed three phases of refurbishment.

A spokesman for the trust said that three major announcements will be made at the public meeting and 'take the project a long way forward and deliver the largest community project in Leigh'.

Tea and coffee will be available at the meeting, which will detail a number of new volunteer roles available as a result of the progress being made.

The event will also give people the opportunity to buy tickets to the first public viewings of the mill's recently restored steam engine turning.

Built in 1925 and running for the first time in 30 years, it is the third largest in the UK and the biggest of its type in the world.

The spokesman added: "The team have been working on a permanent power supply to the steam engine by compressed air and this is shortly to be commissioned, so we are now able to show the product of our volunteers' hard work to a wider audience."

Some of the secret developments will be unveiled at an invite-only event at Cambridge Mill in Manchester on Wednesday morning.