McInnes slams court decision

12.00.00am GMT Fri 23rd Nov 2007

Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP for the North East, Alison McInnes has criticised the Scottish Government for giving the green light to plans to close Inverurie District Court.

In an announcement today (Friday), the Scottish Court Service confirmed that its decision to transfer business from Inverurie to a new Justice of the Peace court in Aberdeen will be implemented next June. The plans were met with fierce local opposition, and Mrs McInnes has been vocal in lending her support to local communities.

The final decision on the plans rested with Government Ministers, however requests from Mrs McInnes to meet with them before the decision was taken was denied because they were 'very busy'.

Commenting, Mrs McInnes said: "The Government said that they would give careful consideration to the needs of local communities to have ready access to justice. But this decision shows that in fact it doesn't matter at all to them.

"The decision ignores the facts that court business in Inverurie has been increasing, and that the population in the region is shifting away from the city towards more rural areas. It will leave many people who need to attend the court facing long journeys, and will make it more difficult, and in many cases impossible for them to use public transport. This is just a further example of removing vital services from rural areas.

"Perhaps the worst aspect of the decision is that it goes against the principle that lay justice should be local justice. When you take away the local provision of justice, you lose the fundamental principle of the lay justice system.

"I cannot believe that the Minister could not find the time to meet with me before such an important decision was made. I wrote to him almost two months ago raising my concerns, and again at the start of November requesting an urgent meeting. It is totally unacceptable that he can make this decision without taking the opportunity to listen to local concerns."