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   Local court services must be protected
Mark Williams MP writes for ePolitix.com ahead of his Westminster Hall debate on the reorganisation of HM Courts Service. The courts service needs to be reorganised. There are courts which are rarely used, and the government is absolutely right to look into this and see if not only savings can be made, but if there are proper alternatives to some of these under-used courts. However, ministers must be careful to ensure that local justice provision is protected. And there is concern that the savings net is being cast too wide, including courts that are needed to serve their community. My particular concern is the proposal to close the Magistrates Court in Cardigan, a historic and significant town which including the surrounding population centres of south Ceredigion and north Pembrokeshire. It has a catchment area of up to 40,000 people – certainly enough to justify a Magistrates Court, and too far from the alternatives to rely on public transport. No doubt other MPs will speak up for their constituency needs, but there is a wider issue of the need for local access to justice. That access has to be available for rural areas as well as urban areas, as the ability to attend court is an absolutely crucial right that can not be discarded. The government clearly face a challenge in ensuring that there is enough of a geographical spread of courts whilst at the same time ensuring that these courts are used enough to justify their existence. They would do well however to think imaginatively. The Magistrates Association has suggested expanding the number of cases that can be seen by magistrates, making greater use of the facilities available, and safeguarding the future of local justice. That has to be an idea worth exploring. It would be wrong to completely isolate this debate from the need to find savings from across public expenditure, but short-term savings in this area may have a long-term cost when it comes to the provision of justice. Closing courts today will likely mean that a service is not provided for a generation, if ever. Clearly we need to find savings, but we must retain the infrastructure that allows us to provide a service to the whole country. When the government comes to making this decision, they must do so on the basis of the need for the service. There is good reason to reorganise the service and to take stock of which courts we do and don't need. But that can't be obscured by the search for savings that all ministers are participating in. These are crucial decisions that will shape the nature of justice in Ceredigion and the rest of the UK for many years, and everyone's right to accessible justice must not be thrown away on the basis of the bottom line. Source: epolitix.com Copyright Dods Parliamentary Communication
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