Petition to No 10 over threat to shut town-centre courts

Simon Reevell, Dewsbury, MP, will hand in the petition which has been signed by more than 450 people tomorrow.

The Ministry of Justice announced in June the start of consultation on the possible closure of 103 magistrates' and 54 county courts on the grounds that they are "underused and inefficient".

It has invited people to submit their views on the proposal. These will be taken into account before a final decision is taken once the consultation has closed on Wednesday.

Mr Reevell has been collecting signatures at his Saturday street surgeries and also online. If anyone would like to sign the petition before it is handed in they can do so by logging onto his website at www.simonreevell.com. He will be handing the petition into No 10 tomorrow at 2.30pm.

He said: "I'm grateful to everyone who has taken the time to sign up to the petition. I will be handing it in just before the consultation closes and then it's up to the Ministry of Justice to make the final decision.

"We can only hope that we have done enough to get them to change their mind. I would like to thank everyone who has shown such an interest in these two courts and I hope our efforts have paid off."

Other opponents of the closure plan include Coun Mehboob Khan, the leader of Kirklees Council, who has said justice and the local economy will suffer if Dewsbury Magistrates' Court is axed.

He opposes the Government plans to close the court and move cases to Huddersfield.

Coun Khan earlier said the move would mean defendants from North Kirklees having to travel seven to 10 miles to the court and failure to appear, or arriving late, would have a negative impact on the running of the courts and the amount of time available for defence or prosecution arguments to be made.

And he warned that the transportation of prisoners from Dewsbury Police Station would become more costly as would travel for witnesses and families of those involved in cases.