§ Mr. CashTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will list the name and date of closure of each magistrates' court that has closed since May 1997, by parliamentary constituency. [77278]
§ Yvette CooperMagistrates' courts are the responsibility of locally based Magistrates' Courts Committees (MCCs) and are a locally managed service.
Decisions to close individual courthouses are made by the local MMCs, with procedures for appeal. There have been 96 magistrates' courthouses closed since May 1997 in England and Wales, as set out in the table as follows. These have been listed in MMC area to which they belonged as information about which parliamentary constituency each MCC is a member of could not be obtained within the timescale.
768W
MCC Magistrates' Courthouse Closure Date Bedfordshire Apmthill 1 January 2000 Bedfordshire Biggleswade 1 January 2000 Bedfordshire Dunstable 1 January 2000 769W
MCC Magistrates' Courthouse Closure Date Bedfordshire Leighton Buzzard 1 January 2000 Cambridgeshire March 31 December 1998 Cheshire Warrington Patten 1 April 2001 Hall Cheshire Macclesfield Park 1 April 2001 Green Cumbria Keswick 30 April 2000 Cumbria Appleby 31 May 2000 Cumbria Windermere 31 May-2000 Cumbria Wigton 31 May 2000 Derbyshire Alfreton 1 January 2001 Derbyshire Ashbourne 1 January 2001 Derbyshire Bakewell 1 January 2001 Derbyshire Matlock 1 January 2001 Devon and Cornwall Bideford 30 April 2001 Devon and Cornwall Exmouth 30 April 2001 Devon and Cornwall Kingsbridge 30 April 2001 Devon and Cornwall South Molton 30 April 2001 Devon and Cornwall Teignmouth 30 April 2001 Devon and Cornwall Tavistock 30 April 2001 Devon and Cornwall Axminster 4 May 2001 Devon and Cornwall Tiverton 4 May 2001 Devon and Cornwall Newquay 30 June 2001 Dorset Christchurch 31 March 1999 Dorset Gillingham 30 September 2001 Durham Barnard Castle 31 December 1998 Essex Braintree 31 December 1997 Essex Clacton on Sea 31 October 1997 Essex Saffron Walden 31 December 1998 Gloucestershire Stow on the Wold 30 June 1999 Greater London Marlborough Street 31 March 1998 Greater London Clerkenwell 31 December 1998 Greater Manchester Ashton under Lyne 31 August 1997 (Manchester Road) Greater Manchester Duckinsfield 31 August 1997 Greater Manchester Leigh 31 March 2001 Greater Manchester Middleton 31 March 2001 Gwent Bargoed 31 December 1997 Gwent Monmouth 31 December 1997 Gwent Pontlottyn 31 December 1997 Gwent Pontypool 31 December 1997 Hampshire and Isle Southampton 31 August2001 of Wight (Commercial Road) Hertfordshire Bishop's Stortford 31 March 1998 Hertfordshire Hatfield 31 March 1998 Hertfordshire Hitchin 31 March 1998 Humberside Bridlington 9 November 2001 Humberside Brough 9 November 2001 Humberside Driffieid 9 November 2001 Humberside Hull (Guildhall) 9 November 2001 Humberside Hull (Lowgate) 9 November 2001 Humberside Pocklington 9 November 2001 Humberside Withernsea 9 November 2001 Kent Sheerness 31 December 1998 Kent West Mailing 31 December 1998 Kent Gravesend 9 June 2000 Lancashire Lytham 31 -December 1998 Leicestershire Lutterworth 31 July 1998 Lincolnshire Market Rasen 31 March 1998 Norfolk Diss 31 December 1998 Norfolk Fakenham 1 May 2002 North Wales Corwen 31 December 1998 North Wales Abergele 31 December 2000 North Yorkshire Stokesley 31 December 1997 North Yorkshire Malton 6 February 1998 North Yorkshire Ripon 1 August 1998 Northumbria Hebburn 5 June 1997 Northumbria South Shields (Kepple Street) 5 June 1997 South Wales Pontardawe 9 October 1997 South Yorkshire Thorne 31 August 1997 Staffordshire Lichfield 31 March 2000 Staffordshire Leek 31 March 2001 Staffordshire Womborne 1 September 2001 Suffolk Felixstowe 31 -December 1998 Suffolk Haverhill 31 December 1998 Suffolk Saxmundham 31 December 1998
MCC Magistrates' Courthouse Closure Date Suffolk Stowmarket 31 December 1998 Suffolk Newmarket 31 December 1998 Surrey Chertsey 31 March 1998 Surrey Farnham 31 March 1998 Surrey Oxted 31 March 1998 Sussex Arundel 1 December 2001 Thames Valley Abingdon 31 March 1999 Thames Valley Henley on Thames 31 March 1999 Thames Valley Windsor 31 March 1999 Thames Valley Beaconsfield 1 July 2002 Thames Valley Buckingham 1 July 2002 West Mercia Bromsgrove 31 May 1997 West Mercia Worcester 31 March 2001 West Mercia Bridgenorth 31 January 2002 West Mercia Leominster 31 January 2002 West Mercia Ledbury 31 May 1997 West Yorkshire Morley 31 March 1999 West Yorkshire Pudsey 31 March 1999 West Yorkshire Keighley 1 April 2000 Wiltshire Chippenham (Market Place) 30 June 1997 Wiltshire Wootton Bassett 2 October 2000
§ Mr. CashTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many magistrates courts in(a) England and (b) Wales opened in each year since 1997. [77279]
§ Yvette Cooper14 magistrates courthouses have opened in the years 1997–2002 in England and Wales. Chippenham in 1997, Birmingham (youth), Southshields and Ashton under Lyne in 1998, Cannock in 1999, Hinckley in 2000, Southampton, Peterlee, Hull, Beverley, Bridlington, Kidderminster and Hereford in 2001, and Worcester in 2002.