Start date for new court house
August 13, 2008 12:00 AM
Work on Colchester's new Court House - to be built at a cost of more than £16 million next to Colchester Town Railway Station, off Magdalen Street - will start in the autumn of 2009.
That was the announcement made by Justice Minister Maria Eagle after she had been challenged by Colchester MP Bob Russell over the continued delays in replacing the old courts at the Town Hall which do not comply with modern standards.
Mr Russell told the House of Commons: "The saga of the delays associated with the new Court House in Colchester has now lasted for more than ten years - equivalent to the combined duration of two World Wars!
"If that is not Government dithering and incompetence on a grand scale, what description would the Minister give?"
Mr Russell said today: "I have been challenging the Government, with Parliamentary Questions, for the past ten years. Their performance has been pathetic. What should have been a straight forward decision to build a new Court House got caught up with changes to the magistrates' court arrangements in Essex coupled with an ill-fated involvement with a PFI (Private Finance Initiative) which failed to deliver.
"I will only believe this latest promise when work actually starts."
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