THE future of Rolls-Royce's two plants in Barnoldswick has been safeguarded after the firm landed a share of a $100 billion jet engine programme.

The engines will power Boeing's new 7E7 Dreamliner passenger jet that is scheduled to go into service in 2008.

No new jobs are expected to be created in Barnoldswick, but a company spokesman said the development of the new Trent 1000 engine would secure the jobs of existing workers.

And the decision has been welcomed by works convenor at Barnoldswick Jon Brough, who described it as a massive vote of confidence in the town's 900-strong workforce.

He said: "We have a highly skilled group of people here at Barnoldswick and the announcement is a big boost for job security. In the short term it will mean more work for our design engineers as they develop the new engine. In the longer term it can only be good news for our members."

Rolls-Royce at Barnoldswick is a world-class manufacturer of the fan blades that go into the Trent family of engines, which are fitted in more than half the world's passenger jets.