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Proposal on Provision of Court Services.Pdf Open Decision Item 5 One Corby Policy Committee 31st August 2010 Proposal on the provision of court services in the East Midlands SYNOPSIS To consider a response to the consultation paper issued by the Ministry of Justice “Proposal on the provision of court services in the East Midlands”. The consultation deadline is 15th September 2010. 1. Relevant Background Details The Ministry of Justice issued the consultation paper in June 2010. The consultation related to the most strategic locations for magistrates’ and county courts across England and Wales. Proposals are based on a series of principles around the importance of operating high quality courts within a reasonable travelling distance for communities, whilst ensuring value for money for taxpayers. In Northamptonshire, Her Majesty’s Courts Service currently operate out of nine magistrates’ and county courts. The number and location of these does not reflect changes in population, workload or transport and communication links over the many years since they were opened. Many courts are considerably underused because there is insufficient workload for the number of courts in the area. Many others lack appropriate facilities for victims and witnesses, do not have secure facilities for prisoners, or are not accessible to disabled court users. These deficiencies limit the type of case that the judiciary can hear, and brings the standard of facilities below that expected in a modern justice system. The consultation invites comment on the proposal to close the following courts: Daventry Magistrates’ Court; Kettering Magistrates’ Court; Towcester Magistrates’ Court; and Wellingborough County Court. The consultation also sets out proposals on the merger of a number of Local Justice Areas to facilitate the changes. This would allow magistrates in these areas to be deployed more flexibly and give them the opportunity to make their vital expertise and experience available to a wider community across the area. In Northamptonshire the consultation document recommends the following mergers: Kettering and Corby Local Justice Areas to create the Corby and Kettering Local Justice Area. Daventry, Towcester and Northampton Local Justice Areas to create Northampton, Daventry & Towcester Local Justice Area. It is considered important that those living in local communities in the area should not have to make excessively long or difficult journeys to attend court. At the same time there needs to be recognition of the infrequency with which most people need to visit a court, compared to other public services which they use and travel to more regularly. 069.doc 1 2. Report Attached as an appendix is a draft response to the relevant consultation questions contained within the paper. The Head of Legal & Democratic Services has drafted an officer response which the Committee is invited to endorse. 3. Options to be considered (if any) The Council is not obliged to respond to the consultation however there are some operational concerns which the Council may wish to register. 4. Issues to be taken into account:- Financial & Legal Any concerns are registered within the draft response attached. 5. Conclusion The consultation will end on 15th September 2010. The Committee is invited to endorse the draft response attached. 6. Recommendation i) for Committee to endorse the response to the consultation paper (as attached). Background Papers Consultation Document HMCS CP08/10 External Consultations None List of Appendices Extracts from Consultation Paper – Proposal on the provision of court services in the East Midlands (23rd June 2010) Consultation Questionnaire Officer to Contact Norman Stronach (Corporate Director) j:\meetings\meetings - reports\2010-2011\069.doc 2 Head of Legal and Democratic Services Simon Aley MBA; LL.B; Dip.L.G. LEGAL AND DEMOCRATIC SERVICES Your Ref: Our ref: SA / Man / Miss Olwen Kershaw Please ask for Simon Aley Project Manager Direct Dial: 01536 464024 HMCS East Midlands Direct Fax: 01536 464109 Nottingham Magistrates’ Court e-mail: [email protected] Carrington Street DX address: DX12915 Corby Nottingham NG2 1EE 16 August, 2010 Dear Miss Kershaw, Consultation on proposed court closures in the East Midlands Corby Borough, as you will know is situated in the north of Northamptonshire and is bounded to the north by the county of Rutland, to the east by East Northamptonshire, to the west by Market Harborough and to the south by Kettering. In responding to the above consultation therefore, it would seem appropriate to comment on both Northamptonshire and Leicestershire in so far as they affect or could affect Corby. The questions you have asked are reproduced together with our responses to create our response to your consultation. Question 4a. What comments would you like to make on the proposals for the future provision of magistrates’ courts services in Northamptonshire (including Local Justice Area/Bench mergers). The Council is generally pleased to see the retention of the Corby Magistrates Court, which is an effective, busy and well run magistrates court. The closure of the Kettering Magistrates Court and transfer of its work to Corby which, like Corby operates 5 days a week will be significant. There is no clarity to the proposal to share this with Wellingborough and there is no intention to split the Kettering bench between Corby and Wellingborough. No information is given in the consultation documents about the level of work in Wellingborough but it is inconceivable that their workload is much greater than Corby’s and quite possibly less. It therefore seems short sighted to simply transfer the bench and therefore logically most of the work to Corby, particularly since Kettering is fractionally closer to Wellingborough than it is to Corby as your own statistics demonstrate. There are real concerns as to the impact this will have on listing and waiting time at Court. Morning court invariably overruns and afternoon waiting times at Corby already continue as a consequence sometimes to 5pm. This is likely to worsen as a consequence of these proposals. Corby remains the fastest growing town in England and therefore the pressures on the local court service are likely to continue to grow. Man / 092242 Page 1 Question 4b. Please describe any particular impacts that should be taken into account when considering the proposals for magistrates courts in Northamptonshire and why. The simple transfer of the Kettering workload and bench to Corby to form a joint Corby Kettering bench will inevitably result in times when the workload gets too much and Corby cases are shunted off elsewhere – probably to Wellingborough and possibly also to Northampton. Indeed this already happens sometimes. Neither Wellingborough nor Northampton are easily accessible from Corby and take time. This could result in missed appointments and added expense and time pressures on court users including local authorities as prosecutors and local residents in Corby, who are generally more likely to use public transport. As your consultation document rightly points out, Kettering Magistrates Court has been used for Coroners hearings in the North Northamptonshire area. This often takes up valuable magistrates court time at Kettering forcing matters to be relisted elsewhere. The loss of Kettering Magistrates Court will mean Corby and Wellingborough will presumably have to take on the Coroner court in addition to the work from Kettering Magistrates Court. Question 4c. Will the proposals for magistrates’ courts in Northamptonshire have a direct impact on you? If yes please provide further details. (Your information will assist in reviewing the equality impact assessment). Inevitably if further shunting of cases across the county results, as it probably will then there will be additional costs of travel and time. I have personally experienced one case which because of court pressure was part dealt with in Wellingborough Magistrates Court and part in Kettering involving a Corby resident on the same day! Such problems are likely to be exacerbated by the proposed changes and the cost will fall on local authorities. Question 2a. What comments would you like to make on the proposals for the future provision of magistrates’ courts services in Leicestershire (including Local Justice Area / Bench mergers). Corby Borough Council notes with some concern the proposed closure of three magistrates courts to the north and west of Corby – Rutland, Melton Mowbray and Market Harborough and the proposed transfer to Loughborough (or in the case of Harborough to Leicester which makes slightly more sense). In view of the location of some of these communities it is disappointing that no cross county alternatives are being put forward that might involve the use of Corby Magistrates court, which is a far closer solution to address access to local justice in some of these areas including all of Rutland and potentially parts of Harborough. Question 2b. Please describe any particular impacts that should be taken into account when considering the proposals for magistrates courts in Leicestershire and why. The most relevant area of concern in relation to Corby would be Rutland. This is a rural area about the same size as the Isle of Wight and as your own statistics suggest the distance from Oakham to Loughbrough is some 30 miles involving a 90 minute bus ride and 2 changes. For many the journey would be far longer and involve at least 2 changes relying on rural transport. By contrast much of Rutland is served by a bus service with terminal points in Oakham and Corby and the distances are much less even from the northern parts of the county of Rutland. It would make logical sense and be in the interests of access to justice, if Melton Mowbray and Market Harborough courts are to close, for Rutland and the Rutland members on the existing Melton and Rutland bench to transfer to the Corby bench area and for all Rutland cases to go to Corby. Since the area is so sparsely populated it is unlikely to have a significant impact on Corby Magistrates Court.
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