Four courts won’t close

But another one will, with a net loss of two courtrooms

The Ministry of Justice has announced that 11 courtrooms which might have closed in two months’ time will now stay open.

A press notice published this morning describes this as a “significant expansion to the courts estate” that will spare thousands of victims “interminable delays waiting to see justice done”.

In reality, as the press notice makes clear, four former court buildings that had been closed before 2020 and were reopened on a temporary basis during the pandemic will now be kept open permanently.

These are:

• The former Fleetwood magistrates’ court in Lancashire — four courtrooms dealing with civil and family cases.

• The former Chichester crown court in West Sussex — two courtrooms dealing with crime as part of Lewes Combined Court Centre.

• The former Cirencester magistrates’ court in Gloucestershire — two courtrooms dealing with crime as part of Gloucester Crown Court.

• The former Telford county court in Shropshire — three courtrooms dealing with civil and family cases.

Top row (L-R): Fleetwood, Chichester. Bottom (L-R): Cirencester, Telford

“As part of the core estate,” says the Ministry of Justice, “these former Nightingale courts will now qualify for future modernisation and investment.”

The only remaining Nightingale court — as the temporary courts were called — is a branch of Croydon Crown Court at the town’s Leonardo Hotel. That’s now due to close at the end of March. So although the crown court estate will retain four courtrooms that were scheduled to close in a couple of months’ time, there will be a net loss of two courtrooms.

The courts minister Sarah Sackman said:

This marks a new chapter for these courts. We’re ending the Nightingale era and making a lasting investment in justice. The permanent courtrooms, as part of our plan for change, will help deliver faster justice and give much-needed clarity to victims and the staff who serve them.

Investment matters, but it isn’t enough on its own. We must deliver bold reforms to put the broken system we inherited — on the brink of collapse — back on sustainable ground.”

The Ministry of Justice says there were 60 temporary courtrooms operating in hotels, conference centres and office buildings in July 2021. There are currently 13, which means that nearly 50 courtrooms were closed by ministers during a period when the crown court backlog was accelerating to its present level of around 80,000 cases.