William Wragg has welcomed the decision to keep Stockport Court House open following his campaign with the Ministry of Justice.
An announcement from the Ministry of Justice was made on the 11th February, confirming that Stockport Court House will not be amongst the thirteen local court buildings set to close across Greater Manchester.
Thirteen court houses across Greater Manchester will be shut following a Government review into cost saving - but those in Stockport will be saved.
More than a dozen underused magistrates and county courts in the region are set to close - including Bury , Oldham and Trafford magistrates courts.
Justice Minister Shailesh Vara announced the decision after a six-month consultation with the public.
Nationally, 86 of the 91 courts under review will shut. While Stockport had been on a list of proposed closures but after a vigorous local campaign, the Ministry of Justice has decided to keep it open.
Stockport Court has 47 staff and was running at only 54 per cent capacity in 2014, with annual running costs of £879,000.
Following the announcement, William Wragg, MP for Hazel Grove said:
“This announcement is good news for people living in Stockport and surrounding areas, including my constituency of Hazel Grove, and is something I have been pushing for some time. I made a submission to the Department of Justice as part of the consultation process, and also met with the Justice Minister Shailesh Vara along with my neighbouring Stockport MP Ann Coffey.
“I made the case that people should have access to justice locally and in particular that the Stockport Courthouse should be saved as it had only recently been refurbished at great cost. I’m pleased these arguments were listened to and that we have got this excellent result.”
William was supported in the campaign by neighbouring MPs Ann Coffey and Mary Robinson who also spoke up to save the court.
Justice Minister Shailesh Vara said: “I have said from the outset that this was a genuine consultation. I am pleased that following strong representations from the local community, especially the local MPs Ann Coffey, Mary Robinson, and William Wragg I have decided to retain the existing [Stockport] court.
“Court closures are difficult decisions; local communities have strong allegiances to their local courts and I understand their concerns. But changes to the estate are vital if we are to modernise a system which everybody accepts is unwieldy, inefficient, slow, expensive to maintain and unduly bureaucratic.”
The government is investing over £700m over the next 4 years to update the court and tribunal estate, installing modern IT systems and making the justice system more efficient and effective for modern users. As part of this modernisation, the court and tribunal estate has to be updated. Many of the current 460 court buildings are underused: last year 48% of all courts and tribunals were empty for at least half their available hearing time. An estimated £5m in operating costs will be saved by the closures.