A SERIES of price increases have come into effect for Blackburn with Darwen libraries for 2019.

Community history search requests, for the first half hour, have risen from £10 to £12.50.

The charge for every subsequent hour is up to £20 from £15, it has been confirmed.

Actors and musicians can only now take sets of scores or plays in batches of 15, with an option for 10 or less now dropped.

The fee has remained static at £15 but if groups want 16 or more then the price has been hiked from £20 to £30.

Replacement tickets for adults rise from £2 to £2.50, though the child fee remains at £1.

Reservations for items in stock will still be free. But orders from elsewhere will now cost £3.50, instead of £3.

The increases follow on from controversial rises for Lancashire county libraries in 2018.

Fines rose from 15p to 20p per day and reservations from 60p to 75p per item, last January.