Lawyers fear court will never reopen

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Lawyers fear court will never reopen
NICOLE MATHEWSON Last updated 05:00 12/03/2012

Rangiora court house closed for repairs
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North Canterbury lawyers are concerned Rangiora District Court may never reopen, leaving more than 50,000 people without a court in their area.

The Percival St building was closed last November after engineers deemed the building a high risk of collapsing in a major earthquake.

It was not known how long seismic strengthening work would take.

Law Society Canterbury-Westland branch president Allister Davis said local lawyers were concerned the Rangiora court was "not particularly high on the agenda for the Ministry of Justice to reopen".

"A few years ago they actually tried to close Rangiora ... to save money. I have a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach that the ministry ... will take this as an opportunity to close it for good."

He said there had been no support for affected lawyers and their clients, who now had to spend extra time and expense travelling to courts in Christchurch. "It's more than an inconvenience."

Defended hearings had already been behind by up to a year in Rangiora because the building had been used by Christchurch courts after the region's quakes, he said.

He had "no doubt" the court's closure would cause further significant delays.

"What I'm looking for is a commitment from the ministry that the court is going to be reopened, and reopened in a timely fashion." If the building had to be closed for an extended period, alternative premises should be provided in Rangiora, he said.

Waimakariri National MP Kate Wilkinson said concerns had been raised about the speed of the closure and how the move affected other agencies that used the Percival St building, such as Child, Youth and Family.

She planned to meet local lawyers, the Law Society and Courts Minister Chester Borrows this week to discuss the issues, along with the possibility of using alternative venues in the area.

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