CUT PRICE JUSTICE?

The closure of Chepstow County and Magistrates Court (not to mention Abertillery Magistrates Court) in April and Pontypool County Court (in July) may not seem to have much impact on the surface, but these cuts make a complete mockery of the whole notion of local justice. This has nothing to do with making the delivery of justice more efficient, the Ministry of Justice's real motivation has always been to cut costs, make no bones about it this cost cutting agenda is being driven by the Con Dem Government in Westminster.

This is merely it part of the price that we are all paying (and are going to carry on paying) for the bailing out the banks. I have no doubt that there are real opportunities to cut costs, save money and make the system more efficient, but these closures will only make it more difficult for people to access justice. The UK Government should have (but did not) reconsider its decision, because the majority of the proposed closures in Wales will have a significant impact, not just on jobs and services but on the efficient functioning of the criminal justice system.

The closures will have a knock on effect as there will be increase in travelling expenses and also higher costs will be incurred by delays in hearing cases. Cut price justice indeed - one more sound argument in support the need
to devolve control of Criminal Justice to Wales.

CONDEM COURT CUTS - WHAT PRICE JUSTICE?

While I am pleased that Abergavenny is retaining it's Magistrates Court, I am very disappointed that Abertillery and Chepstow will lose their Magistrates' Court's and disappointed that both Chepstow and Pontypool are both going to lose their County Court's. These ConDem cuts will not just hit rural areas but all of Wales to varrying degrees. Wales is going to lose a quarter of it's courts, these cuts make a complete mockery of the whole notion of local justice.

The Ministry of Justice's (MOJ) real motivation has always bee to cut costs, make no bones about it this cost cutting efficiency agenda is being is being driven by the Con Dem Government in London - and it part of the price that we are all paying (and going to pay) for the bailing out the banks. While there are no doubt real opportunities to cut costs, save money and make the system more efficient, there is a danger of real damage being done to peoples access to justice.

Plaid Cymru in the National Assembly and in Westminster has opposed these cuts which threatened to close 18 law courts in Wales. The UK Government should have reconsidered its decision, because the majority of the proposed closures in Wales will have a significant impact, not just on jobs and services but on the efficient functioning of the criminal justice system. The closures will have a knock on effect as there will be increase in travelling expenses and also higher costs will be incurred by delays in hearing cases. So much for easy access to Justice - one more sound argument in support the need to devolve control of Criminal Justice to Wales.

Plaid's Mr Elfyn Llwyd, MP, a member of the Commons’ Justice Committee, said:

“Under these plans, Wales is going to lose a quarter of all our country's courts. This makes a complete mockery of the whole notion of local justice. What makes it even more disgusting is that the figures that were used by the department to justify this are a completely fairytale as I found out in answer to my parliamentary questions. The MOJ inflated the maintenance bill backlog for the courts in Wales by well over 100 per cent. Initially they quoted £3.2million in June and then after questioning lowered it to £1.15million last month. Is this figure accurate? Llandovery is listed as due to close – despite the fact that the court has already been closed for years. It goes to show how clueless the department is. The Lord Chief Justice said last month that “little, if any, slack left” in the Welsh justice system if these closures went ahead. The additional travel time to locations further away will prove especially costly and time-consuming at a time when families are already facing tightened budgets. This will make life very difficult for people who use the courts – be it defendants, lawyers, justices of the peace, police or probation officers."

THREAT TO GWENT MAGISTRATES COURTS

I welcome Plaid's campaign against the proposed closure of three Gwent magistrates courts. The UK Government has announced plans to close Abertillery, Abergavenny and Chepstow magistrates courts, not to mention the county courts in Chepstow and Pontypool as part of plans to modernise and improve the court service.

The UK Ministry of Justice published it's consultation documents on June 23rd as part of it's plans to close 103 magistrates’ courts and 54 county courts in the UK which it deems to be underused and inadequate. The consultation documents can be viewed on the Ministry of Justice website. The closing date for responses is September 15th. In Wales, Magistrates and County Courts are under threat of closure and may be affected: 

The following Magistrates courts:

Barry Magistrates' Court, Aberdare Magistrates' Court, Llwynypia Magistrates' Court, Ammanford Magistrates' Court, Cardigan Magistrates' Court, Llandovery Magistrates' Court, Denbigh Magistrates' Court, Pwllheli Magistrates' Court, Flint Magistrates' Court, Chepstow Magistrates' Court, Abertillery Magistrates' Court, Abergavenny Magistrates' Court, Llangefni Magistrates’ Court.

The following County courts:

Chepstow County Court, Aberdare County Court, Rhyl County Court, Pontypool County Court, Llangefni County Court.

The Ministry of Justice's real motivation is to cut costs, just like all the over Government Departments, make no bones about it this cost cutting efficiency agenda is being is being driven by the Con Dem Government in London - and it part of the price that we are all paying (and going to pay) for the bailing out the banks. While there are no doubt real opportunities to cut costs, save money and make the system more efficient, there is a danger of real damage being done to peoples access to justice.

Plaid Cymru in the National Assembly has tabled a statement of opinion against the proposals to close 18 law courts in Wales. The UK Government needs to reconsider its decision, because the majority of the proposed closures in Wales would have a significant impact, not only on jobs and services but on the efficient functioning of the criminal justice system. There is a real risk that any closures will also have a knock on effect as there will be increase in travelling expenses and also higher costs will be incurred by delays in hearing cases.

So much for easy access to Justice - one more sound argument in support the need to devolve control of Criminal Justice to Wales.