大象传媒

Staff at Blackburn with Darwen Council are today taking unpaid leave as part of a package of savings agreed by the council in order to save 拢3m.

Both Blackburn and Darwen Town Halls will be closed as will all the children's centres in the borough and all the libraries. It's the first of twelve days of of unpaid leave being taken by staff to save money as the local authority was forced to make cuts when Government grants were reduced.

It means the council won't have to make as many redundancies as originally planned.

The council has apologised for the closures but says leisure centres, markets and cemeteries will continue as normal - as will bin collections and community transport.