§ Mr. Brocklebank-Fowlerasked the Attorney-General if he will take steps to monitor the additional cost to public funds arising from the decision to close the smaller county courts like Fakeham in Norfolk.
The Solicitor-GeneralFakeham was closed in 1969. No decision to close a county court is taken without full and careful consultation, and detailed consideration of the probable effects of closure from both financial and other points of view. It is not considered that an automatic review in each case after closure would justify the use of public resources entailed. Factors other than finance enter intimately into all these decisions. If the hon. Gentleman has any other particular case in mind his representations to myself or the Lord Chancellor will be carefully considered.