Fife councillors have unanimously condemned the recommendations of the Scottish Court Service that Cupar Sheriff Court should close in May next year and its work transfer to Dundee.
In an emergency motion proposed by Councillor Tim Brett, members of the full council yesterday backed the view that the “full negative implications of this for people in North-East Fife have not been recognised and that justice should be delivered locally”.
Mr Brett said: “I don’t know anyone that supports this the Sheriffs’ Assocation is against it as are local councillors.
“Cupar is struggling like other towns across Fife and this proposal does not help. Court proceedings will now have to transfer to Dundee, which may not be able to cope with the workload.
“Transferring the court will also take issues away from the local police and NHS board into a completely different area so this will have an impact on the social care system and so on.’’
Councillor Gavin Yates added: “We need to send a strong message to the Justice Secretary that this is not the way forward.
“Try to imagine Dundee Sheriff Court on a Monday morning with the custody load they will have to get through it won’t serve justice and the whole proposal is wrong.”
The motion came as North-East Fife MP Sir Menzies Campbell criticised the Scottish Government for publishing the proposed closure date for Cupar Sheriff Court when the proposal has yet to even be approved by the Scottish Parliament.
Scottish Government draft statutory instruments on court closures published this week state that Cupar Sheriff Court will close on May 31 2014.
But with evidence against closure due to be heard by the Scottish Parliament’s Justice Committee on Tuesday, Sir Menzies, himself a QC, said: “It appears that the Holyrood government is determined to press ahead with these needless closures which will bring great inconvenience to litigants, witnesses, police, jurors and lawyers.
“The argument that this is necessary to save money does not stand up to scrutiny and in truth it represents yet another attack on the provision of local services in Scotland.
“The fire service and the police are now to be run from Edinburgh as part of the SNP enthusiasm for centralisation and the courts are to be concentrated in a manner that denies the well-established principle that the administration of justice should be local.”
Cupar councillor Margaret Kennedy, who is convener of the Fife and Forth Valley Criminal Justice Authority, added: “I am amazed that due scrutiny could possibly have been applied given the very swift statement of unconditional acceptance.”
She added: “I am delighted, therefore, that next Tuesday I have been invited to give evidence to the Justice Committee on the community effects through the loss of the court, and hope that our MSP Rod Campbell will support the retention of Cupar court, thus retaining local connectivity to our justice system.”
The Scottish Court Service ran a public consultation over three months at the end of last year on the proposed closure of 11 sheriff courts in Scotland, including Cupar.
The SCS considered the consultation responses over 15 weeks and published their findings on April 9, which are intended to make savings of several million pounds in maintenance and running costs across the court estate in Scotland.