Archive - Friday, 23 January 2004


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Court 'should be shut'

DURSLEY Magistrates' Court is set to be closed for good according to proposals announced by the Gloucestershire Magistrates' Courts Committee this week.

Although all Dursley work is currently conducted at Stroud and has been for a number of years, the courthouse, which adjoins the police station on Kingshill Road, has not been officially closed down.

A review carried out by the MCC said that the Dursley building was "old fashioned" and required "significant resources being spent on it" to bring it up to modern standards.

Instead, the committee has decided to concentrate its business on its five buildings in Cheltenham, Cirencester, Coleford, Gloucester and Stroud.

The building is owned by Gloucestershire County Council and it has to be consulted on the closure proposal and has the right to appeal to the Lord Chancellor against the decision.

The last significant case that the Dursley courthouse handled was the preliminary hearings of Fred and Rose West in 1995.