100 signatures reached
To: Elizabeth Truss, Secretary of State for Justice
Save our Magistrates Courts
Reconsider the proposals to close Camberwell Green and Hammersmith Magistrates Courts
Why is this important?
The government have announced proposals to close the Magistrates’ Courts in Camberwell Green and Hammersmith.
This comes only months after a decision was made to close 84 courts in England and Wales including ten in London.
When that decision was made, the rationale offered by HM Courts and Tribunals Service for one of the closures, Feltham Magistrates’ Court, was that there was capacity for Hammersmith magistrates’ court, described by HMCTS as a “modern purpose-built courthouse” to absorb its work.
The closure of the busy Camberwell Green Magistrates' Court would leave four deprived London boroughs without a Magistrates' Court.
The government’s consultation offers no assessment on the impact for the 100 or so, predominantly female staff currently employed at the courts.
The difficulty in reaching alternative courts and the costs of traveling in London is likely to lead to more miscarriages of justice due to the longer journey times acting as a deterrent to victims and witnesses.
The proposals place great emphasis on alternatives to the public physically traveling to a court building such as the expansion of digital technology and the wider use of video links. Existing technology is unreliable and often results in delays, and any new technology needs to be properly tested and evaluated before decisions are made on court closures.
These further closures make no sense and will seriously restrict access to justice, causing further delays in the delivery of justice and undermine public confidence in the justice process.
