Magistrates under pressure
Friday August 27, 2010
West London magistrates, already wrestling with a backlog of cases, face an even heavier workload if other courts are axed in a cost-saving programme.
Eleven court complexes would shut in the name of efficiency, with Brentford, Acton, Highgate, Harrow, Sutton, Kingston and Tower Bridge among those earmarked for the chop.
The Ministry of Justice believes surviving courts would be able to mop up the extra cases, and predicts West London would not be affected by the changes.
But Hammersmith magistrates say it will be impossible to insulate their court in Talgarth Road from the effects of the closure programme, which is subject to a consultation exercise until September 15.
One insider told h&f news: “Everyone I’ve spoken to thinks it will add to the work at the court in Hammersmith.”
Ian Priston, from the court service, conceded that altering the boundaries of the capital’s judicial areas would affect Hammersmith, but said that the effect would be positive.
He insisted that the court itself would be insulated from closures and amalgamations in other parts of London, and urged h&f news readers to join the consultation.
“The public are making their views known, and any readers can have their say.
“We also welcome comments about how the court system can be improved; we want creative thoughts,” he said.
Fears about the impact of cuts on the court service were heightened last week when the Public and Commercial Services Union revealed a Ministry of Justice letter which spoke of £2billion savings being needed.
The union equated that to 15,000 jobs; cuts which could ‘bring courts to a standstill’.
West London was the subject of a highly critical inspection in April, reported by this paper, in which poor performance by prosecutors, missing paperwork and a last-minute approach were blamed for delays.
In response, more prosecutors were transferred from back offices to the front line to chip away at the backlog of cases.
The inspector pointed out that in the space of a year the role of senior crown prosecutor in Hammersmith & Fulham had been held by seven different people. It was claimed that many criminals were walking free because trials were collapsing as a result of the chaos.
As trials of many Hammersmith and Fulham defendants were farmed out to other London courts, chief crown prosecutor Alison Saunders told h&f news that the performance ‘must improve’. Proposed court closures now make that task harder.
The Ministry of Justice argues that cuts are needed to save costs, pool admin and modernise court facilities.
In total, 157 ‘inadequate and under-used’ courts would disappear in the UK, sweeping away the time-honoured principle of justice being determined by local volunteer benches of JPs.
Defendants, witnesses, victims of crime, magistrates and admin staff would be forced to make longer journeys to court, and delays would almost certainly increase.
Courts Minister Jonathan Djanogly said: “When public finances are under pressure, it is vital to eliminate waste and reduce costs. We should not think about access to justice as simply a question of length of the journey to the nearest court.”
