Courts: Construction

(asked on 30th June 2014) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will place in the Library a detailed list of construction projects in courts that have been cancelled since May 2010, including contract details and costs and indicating in each case whether the court was subsequently closed.


Answered by
Shailesh Vara Portrait
Shailesh Vara
This question was answered on 15th July 2014

HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) has rigorous appraisal processes in place to ensure that any future estate projects offer value for taxpayers' money and deliver significant improvements to court and tribunal users.

Construction projects in courts that have been cancelled since May 2010 are detailed below. With regards to this information, the following should be noted:

The figures relate to sites acquired before the Spending Review 2010.

Following reviews of anticipated workloads, costs and future benefits, decisions were taken not to proceed with the following construction projects in their planned format as they did not offer taxpayers value for money. No construction costs were incurred and no formal decisions to dispose or develop the sites in a different form have been taken yet.

None of the courts where the construction projects were cancelled have subsequently closed. For reasons of commercial confidentiality we are unable to provide the contract details.

Court

Project Description

Cost

Aylesbury Crown Court

The provision of a new four courtroom Crown court to replace poor existing accommodation and lack of capacity

£2.7m

Aylesbury Crown Court

Securing lease on a land site for a court construction project

£4.4m

Birmingham Magistrates' Court

New 24 courtroom Magistrates' court

£11.5m

Birmingham Magistrates' Court

Securing lease on a land site for a court construction project

£17.9m

West Bromwich Magistrates' Court

New Magistrates' Courthouse comprising 10 courtrooms

£1.7m

Wolverhampton Magistrates' Court

New Magistrates' and County courthouse comprising 8 Magistrates' and Youth Courts, 3 Family Court, 3 Civil Courts and 7 Hearing Rooms

£2m

Bradford Magistrates' Court

The relocation of the existing Bradford Magistrates' Court project as part of the Bradford City Regeneration Scheme funded by Bradford Regeneration at minimal cost to the MoJ*

£0.5m

Gloucester Justice Centre

New Criminal Court Centre with 3 Crown Courts and 5 Magistrates' Courts

£0.6m

Snaresbrook Crown Court

Provision of 8 new Crown courtrooms at existing Snaresbrook Crown Court

£1.9m

Sunderland Magistrates' Court

New Crown Court (4 courtrooms), Magistrates'' (8 courtrooms), County Courts (3 courtrooms and 3 District Judgehearing rooms) and 2 Tribunal Hearing Rooms

£2.6m

*Note: The Bradford Court project is relocating the existing court and is being funded by Bradford Regeneration and the local authority. The project has not been deferred by the MoJ but is on hold until Bradford Regeneration and the local authority can secure further funding from the Government.

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