CONTROVERSIAL plans to switch off the lights on part of the M65 motorway have been abolished.

Lancashire County Council’s new Conservative rulers say they have reversed the cost-cutting move while they investigate other ways of saving electricity.

Meanwhile the Highways Agency, which runs the rest of the motorway, has confirmed it has no plans to switch off any lights.

Possibilities that will be looked at include using sensors to switch on lights as cars approach.

There was an outcry when County Hall’s previous Labour administration unveiled plans to switch off lights between midnight and 5am on the section it manages between junction 10, Burnley, and 14, Colne in a bid to save £65,000 from this year’s budget.

But reversing the ban was part of the Conservatives’ alternative budget put forward earlier this year — and the new Tory cabinet member for highways, Coun Keith Young, told the Lancashire Telegraph: “We will stick to it and leave things as they are.

“We were given an explanation from the Labour group without any sort of detail and we have to consider the safety aspects.

“So we are putting the money back in the budget and the lights will stay on. There are all sorts of things that other councils are doing, and we need to try and apply the latest technology.

“But if there is a safety issue we need to look at that.”

Not all of the M65 is lit, and the rest of the motorway, from junction one at Bamber Bridge, is run and maintained by the Highways Agency, which is trialing switching off some lights on quiet parts of motorways elsewhere in the country.

But a spokesman for the agency said: “There are no plans to switch off lights on the M65.”

The Lancashire Telegraph first revealed the controversial plans in November. At the time police slammed the move, which they said would be a “retrograde step in relation to motorway safety”.