Council welcomes Lisburn Courthouse Reprieve

October 26, 2016

Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council has welcomed the announcement that Lisburn Courthouse will remain open, something that the Council has strongly campaigned for.

Speaking following the announcement that five local courthouses, including Lisburn, have been saved from closure, Chairman of the Strategic Community Planning Partnership, Alderman William Leathem, said:

“We are delighted that Lisburn Courthouse will remain open for the foreseeable future and would like to thank all parties who campaigned for its retention.

“Financial predictions indicated that the closure would have saved less than £150,000 per year.  However these relatively modest Court Service savings would have caused considerable knock on financial costs to other agencies involved in the judicial system, not to mention the detriment that the proposed closure would have caused the wider Lisburn community,” he said.

Throughout their Courthouse Campaign, the Council met with many agencies involved in the court system including The Law Society,  local solicitors, the PSNI, Health Trust, Drug Awareness Charities, Prison Officers and Women’s Aid.  The Council also supported the local petition opposing the transfer of legal services to Laganside Courts in Belfast and lobbied the local MP and MLAs.

“The new Justice Minister has also proposed a review of future court services. The Council has already commissioned a piece of research that looks at this very issue; how our local Courthouse can be best utilised to provide a range of judicial services to best meet the needs of our local community.

“Our proposed options, having consulted with our partners, include providing once central location  which provides a wealth of services, both in and outside the court room, including family and young people’s services, mediation, dispute resolutions as well as restorative justice programs.  The Council would be hopeful that this research can be considered as part of the future of our local Courthouse in Lisburn.

“The retention of Lisburn Courthouse has seen common sense prevail, retaining local services for local communities and the wider economic and social benefits that this brings.  This shows what can be achieved by working together and we hope that this will be a milestone first step in a program for a more effective integrated local court system for Lisburn,” said Alderman Leathem.