Solihull Magistrates Court's closure confirmed

SOLIHULL Magistrates Court is to close for good, it was announced earlier this week.
The fate of the court house was all but sealed in 2013, when it was revealed that all criminal cases would be transferred to Birmingham.
On Thursday it was confirmed that the Homer Road building would be shut down, alongside ten other courts in the Midlands region.
Many borough councillors are worried that the cost-cutting initiative flies in the face of the ancient principle of justice being administered locally. There is also the concern that the removal of the borough court house is part of a general trend of local services being centralised.
However, Justice Minister Shailesh Vara said that many premises were outdated and simply too expensive to maintain - it's understood that Solihull alone cost £250,000 a year to run.
"Court closures are difficult decisions; local communities have strong allegiances to their local courts and I understand their concerns," he said.
"Maintaining our underused and dilapidated court buildings costs the taxpayer £500 million a year but some courts sit for less than half the time available. This is simply unsustainable."