A ‘FULLY functioning’ set of Christmas lights worth thousands of pounds has been mothballed after Darwen Town Council decided to replace them.

Confusion surrounds the traditional display outside the town hall after the town council said the lights were ‘defunct’ and they were taken down. But Blackburn with Darwen Council, which installed them around two years ago, said there was nothing wrong with them.

As a result, the town has two sets of lights, one on display and the other in a warehouse.

Meanwhile, a large-scale ‘Merry Christmas’ sign is still in storage and may not be put up because the brackets are the wrong size.

Marsh House councillor Simon Huggill said: “Any rational person would think that organising lights is not a difficult thing to do. I find it very difficult to understand how we struggle to organise something so simple every year.”

Darwen Town Council has spent £4,000 on this year’s display, which has been praised by market traders and councillors.

In August town councillors branded the previous display ‘abysmal’, calling for more to be done.

Lib Dem Roy Davies said: “I was led to believe they were finished, that is why I voted to replace them. If they had been working I would have voted differently.”

Town Mayor Paul Browne insisted: “The lights were more or less defunct, they had seen better days.”

He claimed the previous set of lights had not been environmentally-friendly.

But Adam Scott, Blackburn with Darwen Council’s strategic director for regeneration, said: "The lights on the town hall and the tree in front of the building were replaced with an artistic scheme paid for this year by Darwen businesses and the town council.

“Our lights, which were in full working order and all LED, are safely stored in a warehouse for reuse next year."

On the ‘Merry Christmas’ sign, Coun Browne added: “The company has got to have some bigger brackets made. That’s the problem now, we are waiting for them to come back."