Lambeth County Court

[Crystalpal]

I am very concerned to learn that of plans to close our local county court which is in Kennington. It is the local court for residents of Southwark and Lambeth and hears all civil disputes including eviction cases.

Hopefully most forum readers will never need to visit a county court but please spare a thought for people who have fallen onto hard times particularly as a result of the bedroom tax. If a tenant is in rent arrears, and they don't attend the possession hearing, eviction is almost inevitable. If this closure goes ahead, anyone needing to attend court will have to travel to Wandsworth, a journey that takes an hour and a half on the 37 bus.

It would be really good if people could respond to the consultation, objecting to this closure. just a short email could make a difference because i am told that the government are swayed by the number of responses. the contact details are:

[email protected] and the deadline is 9 October.

[ianr]

The consultation documents are here: https://consult.justice.gov.uk/digital-communications/proposal-on-the-provision-of-court-and-tribunal-es

[SLad]

Lambeth is a great county court and very useful. Plus Wandsworth CC is actually in East Putney so absolutely miles away! Thanks for publicising this.

[tfwsoll]

Thanks for giving the link to the consultation. With the level of cuts that the MOJ are expected to make - and Michael Gove's gung ho approach to this task, selling off valuable assets is very much on the agenda.

[edhistory]

The consultation document says:

"The tenure on Lambeth County Court is leasehold until 2024."

[Crystalpal]

yes, they intend to surrender the lease,probably to turn the building into a wine bar

[edhistory]

It is difficult to see the economic viability of a wine bar in that location.

Have you ever visited the court?

John K

[tfwsoll]

I was there on a weekly basis back in the 80s when I worked for Lambeth Council. I think that's when it was last refurbished.

The MOJ have apparently said that no-one will be further than an hour's drive from a court - which is a complete nonsense in London and presumes that anyone attending will be driving and they can afford the exorbitant parking fees close to courthouses.

[Crystalpal]

I used to work at Southwark Law Centre and visited the court several times a month. I still visit it in connection with my work a few times a year. I have also been to Wandsworth county court many times. You need to allow two hours to get there from East Dulwich for a 10:00 hearing because so often the bus gets stuck in traffic (the tfl website says an hour and 20 minutes by bus but believe me that is optimistic). You can take buses and trains but that is an expensive and complicated journey.

[JimiSayo]

That would explain why it's so delapidated inside and quite ghostly at certain hours. Scaling down its use to justify the closure. And really shabby inside too. Making sense now!

[malumbu]

As a scumbag landlord I used it many times in 90s and 00s to try to get money back from my taking the peas students (oh we can't pay the rent as we have to buy designer clothes). It was OK. I have now used the online system to issue summmons.

I once used Guildhall magistrates court. My that was posh.