Plea over Shropshire court closures threat
Wednesday 3rd November 2010, 10:14AM GMT.
A campaign group today called on the Government to guarantee that people in rural parts of Shropshire will not be cut off from accessing courts if any are closed across the county.
Ludlow, Oswestry and Market Drayton magistrates courts, along with Shrewsbury, Oswestry and Ludlow county courts, are on a list under scrutiny as the Government grapples with reducing Britain’s £155 billion deficit.
A total of 54 county courts and 103 magistrates courts are on a list of ones earmarked for closure to save about £36 million a year.
Across Shropshire the cuts would result in the loss of 16 jobs but save the Government more than £430,000.
Today the not-for-profit Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (Apil) urged the Ministry of Justice to provide a guarantee that all county court hearings would take place within 20 working days of a preliminary application being issued if proposals to close courts across England and Wales go ahead.
The group also called for assurances that people in rural communities would not be cut off from accessing the courts completely.
The association’s president Muiris Lyons said: “We all know public finances are under severe pressure, but the Government must ensure that people living in Shropshire continue to have proper access to justice.
“A guarantee should be given to the public that no- one should have to wait more than 20 working days for their case to be heard at a county court after a preliminary application has been issued.”
He added: “The Government must ensure that people are not left waiting for justice and that those living in rural communities are not cut off from accessing the courts completely.”
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: “The consultation period on the court estate proposals for magistrates and county courts in England and Wales closed on September 15. The consultations are part of the process to review how justice might in the future best be delivered in each area across England and Wales.
“The responses to each document will now be studied in detail, including consideration of alternative proposals from respondents, and the impact of each proposed closure analysed fully.
“Recommendations will then be made to the Lord Chancellor who will decide, in each case, whether or not to close the courts and whether to merge any local justice areas.”
By John Kirk
UK News
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Clause 40 of Magna Carta states: “To no one will we sell, to no one deny or delay right or justice.”
Doesn’t closing the courts constitute denying and/or delaying justice?
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There is plenty of room to house Shrewsbury County Court up at the magistrates Court by shirehall. But the government and the HM Service being the people they are and lacking common sense cannot see this and want to waste money on moving the court to Telford, where there is absolutely no room for it and a logistical nightmare for court users. We are going to see a huge increase in people needing to use the court for debtors hearings and civil matters, and with debt in Shropshire on the increase we need the court in Shrewsbury.
A county town without a county court…
Wish the people doing this consultation and decision making would wake up to reality, and take their blinkers off.
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Those bleating loudest about ensuring access to justice are often (but not always) members of the Benches of those courts who see their “influence” being eradicated when their local court is threatened with closure. Places such as Ludlow or Oswestry have court buildings which are no longer fit for purpose in the twenty first century. They have no toilets, no waiting rooms (where witnesses can be kept segregated from defendants) no security officers (civilian or police) and no cells.
80% of magistrates are a complete waste of space – there for the cudos which being on the Bench brings, along with the chance for affairs and the social and commercial contacts they obtain. Dispensing justice effectively and efficiently comes very low down their list of priorities. Perhaps if in the future magistrates have to travel to the court where they are to carry out their legal duties, we might get individuals serving who are actually interested in doing what they have been appointed for in the first place.
However, there is a genuine down side to moving courts to a central location be it Shrewsbury or Telford. Most of the low life “clientele” will proceed to work the system by failing to turn up to the centralised courts to answer their bail or for trials, on the grounds that they couldn’t afford the train ticket (not surprising given the cost of rail travel) missed the train or bus, or there wasn’t one, or their (probably untaxed and uninsured) car wouldn’t start.
I suspect if this scheme does go ahead it will lead to yet further delay in cases being processed through the courts and more wasted court time – something those advocating this change have probably not considered – which is regrettable given the fact that the proposed closures are designed to save money.
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