Shrewsbury Magistrates' Court earmarked for closure

The announcement was made by the Ministry of Justice, a 12 week public consultation will take place before a final decision is made.

Shrewsbury Magistrates’ Court is one of 14 in the Midlands region deemed to be underused in the report published by Courts Minister Shailesh Vara.

During the 2014/15 financial year, Shrewsbury Magistrates’ Court was utilised at approximately 28% of its capacity. The court built in 1994 has a total of four courtrooms and 13 cells, all of which are operational.

“Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service operates 460 courts and tribunal hearing centres across England and Wales,” said the parliamentary under-secretary of state for courts and legal aid at the Ministry of Justice in a written statement to the House of Commons.

“The estate costs taxpayers around half a billion pounds each year, and at present, it is underused.

“Last year over a third of all courts and tribunals were empty for more than 50 per cent of their available hearing time.”

He added: “Today’s consultation puts forward proposals that aim to reduce this surplus capacity. The buildings being consulted on represent 16 per cent of hearing rooms across the estate which are, on average, used for only a third of their available time.

“That is equivalent to fewer than two out of five days in a week.”

Mr Vara said ‘better access to justice’ could be provided if difficult decisions to reduce the cost of the ministry’s estates were made and the savings reinvested.

Alternatives will include using modern technology such as video conferencing to give evidence, and using other local civic and public buildings, such as town halls, for hearings, instead of underused and poorly maintained buildings, the statement said.

The national and regional consultation documents and the full list of sites recommended can be found here. The consultation will last for 12 weeks and will close on October 8, 2015.