EARLIER this summer, the Ministry of Justice launched a consultation to reform the courts in England and Wales.

The aim, which I support, is to bring quicker and fairer access to justice and to save the taxpayer tens, if not hundreds of millions, of pounds.

The consequence, which I do not support, would be the closure of Chippenham’s state-of-the-art courts.

As crime continues to fall and technology continues to improve, it is right that the government ensures public money is spent efficiently.

Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service currently operates 460 courts across England and Wales.

The buildings alone cost the taxpayer half a billion pounds a year and a lot of courts are underused, with over a third of them empty for more than half of their available hearing time.

As someone who believes firmly that every penny of taxpayers’ money should be spent as effectively as possible, it is absolutely right that significant savings are made at the Ministry of Justice.

I do not, however, believe the closure of Chippenham’s courts helps with the aim of saving money, and I have said this in my response to the government.

Our court is less than 25 years old. Well-designed and built to exceptionally high standards, the courthouse remains in near perfect condition and is one of the region’s only courts to be reinforced with bombproof walls and glass and is equipped to high anti-terrorism standards.

If the courts were to close, Chippenham’s cases would be heard at Swindon’s outdated and impractical courts. Swindon’s court buildings are in need of urgent and substantial updating and renovation which will, no doubt, take a long time to complete.

Unless a new Swindon court is built before the closure of the current, or in the instance the existing court is simply brought up to standard, during that redevelopment process Swindon’s court buildings are more than likely to have to close.

In that scenario, Chippenham’s high-quality courts would be ideally placed to cope with a huge amount of the workload from Swindon.

It is my belief that the closure of the Chippenham courthouse will prove premature. There needs to be a lot more planning around the redevelopment of Swindon’s courthouse with regard to the impact work may have on court provision in North Wiltshire and Swindon.

To read my submission to the MoJ’s consultation, visit michelledonelan.com/court.

I am currently holding surgeries in the area. To arrange an appointment, call 01249 704465 or email michelle.donelan.mp@parliament.uk.