Shropshire courts chaos: 'Teething problems' recognised with changes to legal system
The minister in charge of changes to Shropshire's legal system has recognised that there were "teething problems", but said they are now being addressed.
Ludlow MP Philip Dunne met Lucy Frazer, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Justice, to discuss changes to the way remand cases are heard, after receiving a number of concerns from the public and local solicitors.
Earlier this year it was revealed that remand prisoners in Shropshire, who used to have their cases heard at Telford Magistrates Court, are now being transferred out of the county by minibus to Kidderminster.
Mr Dunne said: "The upshot of my meeting was that I went through the complaints that have been made to me about the impact on these organisations that support the court system with the minister, who had West Midlands court officers present ,and we had a very constructive conversation.
"They accepted there have been a few teething troubles and were going to discuss those at a meeting with representatives of the criminal justice system who have been impacted by the changes.
"I took that to be a constructive response."
The issue has proved controversial with local defence solicitors who have raised concerns over increased expense, travel distance, and the number of people in cells.
It has also led to people being held for longer at police stations after handing themselves in, because only one bus a day travels from Telford to Kidderminster at 7.30am. Anyone handing themselves in after that time is held until the following morning.
Mr Dunne added: "Some solicitors have to travel much greater distances so they are now providing a room in Kidderminster court for solicitors to work in and they're also considering paying for travel time as part of legal aid.
"In some cases the defendants weren't getting to court in as timely a fashion as they should have done.
"They said custody sergeants are now getting cases to court on time.
"Another concern was that vulnerable people in remand cases were not being adequately looked after by mental health advisors, the reason for that was because each county's local mental health trust has a different provider and they're not necessarily the right provider in Kidderminster for the right case.
"So they're now looking at it to ensure the right mental health provider is available.
"That was quite constructive, also about the issue of capacity, they are very close to capacity on Monday - the busiest day- but not at capacity.
"They recognised there were teething troubles but they are not minded to change it."
