Curtain finally falls on town courthouse
Judgement day arrives for magistrates’ court
HINCKLEY’S courthouse has closed just 16 years after it was officially opened by the country’s top judge.
The magistrates’ court on Upper Bond Street, which cost £4.4 million to build, shut down on June 30. It was among 86 deemed surplus to requirements by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) as part of a modernisation programme.
Cases are now being directed to Leicester Magistrates’ Court, which is based in an older building.
When a consultation on the closures was announced, Minister for Courts and Legal Aid Shailesh Vara said many court buildings were “expensive to maintain yet unsuitable for modern technology”.
Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council issued a formal objection and suggested its offices at The Hub be utilised for local judicial matters.
The Law Society also resisted the wholesale closures, defending Hinckley’s courthouse along with others in its official response document.
The report said: “Hinckley Magistrates’ Court was built in 1999 at a cost to the taxpayer of £4.4 mil- lion. To close the court just over 15 years later is a waste of public money. The consultation paper states that there is no separate access or waiting area for vulnerable or intimidated victims and witnesses at Hinckley Magistrates’ Court.
“However, the society understands that the proposed alternative venue, Leicester Magistrates’ Court, also does not have a separate access or waiting area for vulnerable or intimidated victims and witnesses.
“The society finds it difficult to understand why MoJ is proposing to close Hinckley and move cases to an older building that does not have significantly better facilities.
“Our members are also concerned that the travel times stated in the consultation paper are misleading and unrealistic. For example, weekday rush hour trains from Hinckley to Leicester can take up to 40 minutes depending on whether a change is necessary, and there is a 20 minute walk from the station to the court.
“There is also limited public parking for court users travelling by car as the car park at the court is only for the use of magistrates.”
Neither case was taken on board with the court actually closing earlier than expected. Initial scheduling had the building being shut between July and September this year.
The court had operated on just a Tuesday and a Thursday for a number of years and was considered by the MoJ as under-used and unsustainable.
Councillor David Bill (Lib Dem, Clarendon) said: “This move might be justified in terms of saving money but I doubt it will be seen in the same way by all those who are caught up in the criminal justice system.”