Shrewsbury Magistrates Court closes its doors for good

The court in Abbey Foregate is one of 65 courts across England and Wales being closed by the Ministry of Justice.

It means that people will be required to travel from north of Oswestry and from the south Shropshire border to Telford Magistrates Court for hearings.

Staff at the court confirmed cases will be heard at Telford only from tomorrow, while tribunal cases will be held in Shrewsbury until the end of April.

Stephen Scully, solicitor advocate at Lanyon Bowdler, said the closure threatens local justice.

He said: "We have clients in Oswestry and beyond who struggle to get to Shrewsbury as it is, and most of them are on low income and benefits.

"This move will cause delays in hearings, and we will find ourselves in a position where more warrants will be issued for no attendance then people will be arrested.

"It's a retrograde step."

"People won't deliberately not come to court but will end up spending a night in the cells."

Mr Scully also questioned how long it would be before the magistrates court leaves Telford.

"We've seen a number of courts close over the years – Oswestry, Ludlow, Market Drayton, now Shrewsbury – who is to say it won't be Telford next, and the courts will move to the big cities? That isn't local justice. It's crazy," he said.

"It's a real shame but unfortunately now the decision is something we will leave to regret in the future."

Earlier this year the Shropshire branch of the Magistrates Association objected to the closure on the basis that it would restrict access to justice by making it "difficult or impossible" for some people to get to Telford by 9.30am.

In its response the Ministry of Justice said it accepted that some people would face increased travel times but that people could make individual applications to have their cases heard at different times.