Courts: Sales
(asked on 4th July 2019) - View Source
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the sale price was of each (a) magistrates' court building, (b) youth court and (c) Crown court sold in the last two years.
Sales of Magistrates’, Youth and Crown court buildings from the 2017/18 financial year onwards are as follows
Property | Receipt (£) | Reform/Pre-reform |
Abergavenny Magistrates Court | 499,809 | Reform |
Barnstaple Magistrates' & County Court | 95,000 | Reform |
Bolton Magistrates' Court | 750,000 | Reform |
Brecon Law Court | 575,000 | Reform |
Caerphilly Magistrates Court | 445,000 | Reform |
Chester-le-Street Magistrates Court | 100,000 | Reform |
Cirencester Magistrates' Court | 450,000 | Pre-reform |
Dolgellau Mags & Crown Court | 67,509 | Reform |
Dorking Magistrates' Court | 2,125,000 | Pre-reform |
Greenwich Magistrates Court | 12,005,000 | Reform |
Hammersmith Magistrates’ Court | 43,000,000 | Reform |
Holyhead Magistrates Court (North Anglsey), | 112,500 | Reform |
Keighley (Bingley) Magistrates' Court | 254,310 | Pre-reform |
Liverpool, Dale Street Magistrates | 1,000,000 | Reform |
Lyndhurst Magistrates' Court | 900,000 | Pre-reform |
Northallerton Magistrates' Court | 450,000 | Reform |
Oswestry Magistrates' Court | 110,602 | Pre-reform |
Richmond Upon Thames Magistrates Court | 9,850,000 | Reform |
Solihull Magistrates Court | 4,300,000 | Reform |
Tottenham (Enfield) Magistrates Court | 4,570,000 | Reform |
Towcester Magistrates' Court | 50,000 | Pre-reform |
Waltham Forest Magistrates Court | 3,471,040 | Reform |
Watford Magistrates Court | 3,836,000 | Reform |
The table above excludes transfers of surplus properties to other government departments (such as Homes England) as these are not categorised as a sale transaction, but as an internal transfer within government.
The closure of any court is not taken lightly – it only happens following full public consultation and when communities have reasonable access to alternative courts.
Since the start of the Reform Programme, money raised from the sale of surplus buildings has been reinvested in the reform of HM Courts & Tribunals Service. The table above identifies pre-reform buildings where this is not the case.