Significant changes will take place to Magistrates' Court listings in Greater Manchester and North-Northumbria from 1st October 2024.
In Greater Manchester there will be a reduction in the number of trials being listed at Bolton Magistrates' Court. One court a day sits at Bolton. Courtroom 6, which is the one being used, lacks a dock and is therefore limited to non-custody work. There are currently a lot of non-custody, non-traffic trials listed at Bolton.
Non-traffic trials are being removed from Bolton and reallocated to Manchester and Wigan & Leigh Magistrates' Courts. Moving forward Bolton will handle videolink, traffic and private prosecution work. Statutory declarations will also be listed at Bolton.
Speaking of the changes, a Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: "Some trials from Bolton Magistrates' Court will be dealt with at alternative courts within the Greater Manchester area to help manage workloads and ensure justice is delivered swiftly.
"The best interests of witnesses are always considered when reviewing the listing of trials."
Changes are also afoot in North-Northumbria, with news that two of the area's Magistrates' Courts - Mid and South East Northumberland (Bedlington) and North Tyneside - will have remand work redistributed between them.
There is currently a daily remand court at each venue, but because the number of remand cases is generally quite low other work is being shoehorned into the afternoon list. There are some days of the week where the remand court is the only court sitting at the venue.
Although the number of remand cases is generally quite low, it is also very unpredictable. On a day with a lot of remand cases, the court is having to prioritise those cases and ditch its afternoon list. As it is often the only court sitting, it cannot share cases with another court sitting at the venue.
Moving forward there will be one remand court a day, either at Bedlington or North Tyneside. The plan is that remands will be dealt with at Bedlington on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday; North Tyneside on Thursday and Friday. Two additional courts will operate at each venue on its remand days, so that work can be shared around if the need arises.
There will be no crime work at all at Bedlington on a Thursday and Friday; North Tyneside on a Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. County Court and Tribunals work listed at the venues will be unaffected.
If any readers know of any other changes, please feel free to get in touch by email - address is in sidebar.
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