Haddington Sheriff Court closure ‘clearly a mistake’

East Lothian’s only sheriff court closed its doors last January, despite efforts to keep it running.

The decision to close the court has come up again at Holyrood, with Rachael Hamilton, South of Scotland MSP, saying the closure was a “mistake”.

She added: “The closure of Haddington sheriff court was clearly a mistake, and as such we are now faced with a backlog in the court system.

“Ministers told us that the Scottish Courts Service had ‘capacity within courts to deal with current anticipated cases’.

“This is clearly not the case and as such I will be writing to the Cabinet Secretary for Justice, Michael Matheson MSP, to explain why Haddington Sheriff Court was closed in the first place.

“This closure was another Scottish government short-sighted quick fix that in reality has created even more serious problems in which now there is no fix in sight – let alone a quick one.”

Stephen Mannifield, from the Edinburgh Bar Association (EBA), said: “The closure of Haddington Sheriff Court in the EBA’s jurisdiction has had a massive effect… Edinburgh is now dealing not only with all the sheriff and jury and more serious cases for the Edinburgh area, but with all the more serious cases from East Lothian.”

The court served around 100,000 people in an area that is expected to grow, with 10,000 new homes to be ready by 2024.

A spokesperson for the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service said: “The Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service 2013 report outlined our long-term strategy for a court structure model that would reflect justice reforms, improve facilities and services for court users and would be affordable in the long term.

“Our evaluation published in Shaping Scotland’s Court Service – an Evaluation after the First Three Years, confirmed that this strategy is on track and the evaluation data clearly demonstrates strong and improved court performance in the receiving courts, including Edinburgh.”