SIGNIFICANT progress has been made to re-open Haworth's mothballed fire station ahead of an approaching summer deadline.

The team working on plans to take over the running of the property, which closed at the end of last year, have until the end of July before the building is put up for sale.

West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority's community safety committee agreed to the delay in marketing the premises earlier this year.

The fire station was shut down as part of a major cost-cutting initiative, despite local demonstrations to try and keep it open.

Friends of Haworth and Worth Valley Fire Station steering group member John Huxley said both Keighley Town Council and Haworth, Cross Roads and Stanbury Parish Council had given £2,000 grants to the group.

He added that he and his colleagues have also applied to Oxenhope Parish Council for funding.

"Hopefully these funds will be enough to take us to charitable status," he said.

"This status would enable us to chase grants more easily, seek dispensation from business rates and allow us to have a membership scheme.

"The most difficult thing for any organisation trying to save a building is not to generate money for capital projects, but to get enough money for ongoing revenue, and to pay things like electricity and gas bills.

"We are also going to have to look into how we govern ourselves as a group. We won't be a company, we'll be using public money, and we would need to make ourselves as transparent as possible so the public can see how their money is being spent."