Shrewsbury Magistrates Court to close by June
Shrewsbury Magistrates Court is to close by June the Justice Minister has announced.
The court is one of 65 courts across England and Wales which will be closed following a consultation which took place last summer.
During the 2014/15 financial year, Shrewsbury Magistrates’ Court was utilised at approximately 28% of its capacity.
The court was built in 1994 and has a total of four courtrooms and 13 cells, all of which are operational.
A written statement by Courts Minister Shailesh Vara said that on average, the courts being closing are used for just over a third of their available hearing time, Equivalent to less than 2 days a week.
Following the closures over 97% of people will be able to reach their required court within an hour by car. This represents a change of just 1 percentage points for both criminal and County Courts. The proportion able to reach a tribunal within an hour by car will remain unchanged at 83%.
Malcolm Richardson, National Chairman of the Magistrates Association, says of the closures: “Whilst accepting there was a clear case for some to close, many magistrates will be very worried about some of these closures and their impact on access to justice.
“There will be inevitable additional pressure on the system and the paramount concern of magistrates is for accessible justice to be protected. We hope the Ministry of Justice will work closely with magistrates to safeguard it.”
