Member News
The government will close 93 magistrates' courts and 49 county courts in England and Wales, the Commons has heard.
Justice minister Jonathan Djanogly made a statement to MPs on the planned shake-up of the courts service in England and Wales.
Only 15 courts included in the government's consultation are due to be saved.
The minister said he was "determined" to develop a proper court service" and for £22m of capital to be reinvested to "improve and modernise courts in the future.
He said the present system was "unsustainable" and that changes would mean a "better, more efficient and more modern" system of justice.
As part of the plans, £22m of capital will be reinvested to improve and modernise courts facilities which will receive extra work as a result of the closures.
"It's unacceptable that dozens of buildings never intended to be, and not fit to be, modern court buildings are still in use," Djanogly told MPs.
"And it is undesirable that in the current financial position that the taxpayer continues to fund buildings that offer outdated and inadequate facilities to victims and indeed to witnesses."
Changes to the system would mean 85 per cent of people would still have access to their nearest court within an hour via public transport – down from the present 90 per cent.
He told MPs: "The government has decided to close 93 magistrates' courts and 49 country courts.
"Of these 49 country courts, 10 will however remain open for hearings under the control of other local county courts.
"We will be retaining 10 magistrates and five country courts on which we consulted."
Responding for Labour, shadow justice minister Andrew Slaughter said the closure programme represented a "wholesale destruction" of the foundations of British justice.
Slaughter said courts are not like "Facebook or Tesco" and are an "important part" of many communities.
He said people regard courts in the same way that people regard police stations or town halls.
"This wholesale closure sums up this government's approach to cutting local services in this and every other area - let's get on with the cuts and worry about the effects later," Slaughter told MPs.
"This programme of closures amounts to a wholesale destruction of this foundation stone of much of British justice."
Justice select committee chair Sir Alan Beith (Lib Dem, Berwick) agreed that there was a case to make savings where courts were close together but asked why criticism from the Lord Chief Justice had not been taken to account.
The senior judge had appealed to justice secretary Ken Clarke to reconsider the closure of more than 100 courts.
Djanogly said the report had been noted but stressed it had not represented the "entire judiciary" and needed to be seen in that context.
There are almost 29,000 magistrates in England and Wales and they deal with nine out of 10 cases that come before the courts.
Article Comments
Justice must be accesible to all. Each area should have it's own magistrates court and county court. Justice should be seen in a persons own borough or town. This is an erosion of British Justice. I am speechless but what else can we expect from this coalition's Government some Government.
They have no interest in justice and I mean justice at all. Cases will be rushed through as if on a conveyor belt with nobody able to state their case on either side of the arguement.
Gerald Phillips
14th Dec 2010 at 6:13 pm
Have your say...
Please enter your comments below.