Work on new Shrewsbury Crown Court nearly finished

Months of renovation and remodelling work has been undertaken at the building on Preston Street.

The highly anticipated move follows concerns that the current Crown Court is outdated and not fit for purpose.

In 2016 the custody suites at the Crown Court were found to be ‘dirty, oppressive and contained substantial amount of graffiti’ during an inspection.

Some of the graffiti found by inspectors in the cells was racist.

A planning application has now been lodged with Shropshire Council for signage at the new court which will be known as Shrewsbury Justice Centre.

The new Crown Court will house two court rooms, where serious cases, transferred from magistrates courts will be heard.

Staff and judges are expected to move in to the reconfigured court, from their nearby base at Shirehall, in the summer.

The town's magistrates court, which opened in October 1994, closed in 2016, and all cases were transferred to Telford, the county's only court which now only sits twice a week. On other days, remand prisoners and those answering bail have to make the journey to Kidderminster.

In 2016 the Shropshire branch of the Magistrates Association objected to the closure of the court on the basis that it would restrict access to justice by making it "difficult or impossible" for some people to get to Telford by 9.30am.

The Ministry of Justice replied saying that it accepted that some people would face increased travel times but that people could make individual applications to have their cases heard at different times.

Now concerns have been raised that those travelling to Kidderminster, particularly those with mental health problems, will have to undertake lengthy trips to arrive at court on time.