The busiest family court in the south-east region is to close next year after the landlord opted to redevelop the site.
Hearings at Medway County and Family Court in Chatham will be moved to an increased-capacity Maidstone Combined Court, 11 miles away.
The current lease is set to expire in January 2021 and while HM Courts & Tribunals Service has attempted to extend the lease, it had not been possible. Nor had it been able to find other suitable accommodation in the same town.
The announcement also said that video and telephone work will be increased due to the effective testing of the systems during the pandemic, and is set to become a more long-term feature of the justice system going forward.
There are seven courtrooms at Medway, and it is the designated family court for Kent operating at a ‘high-level’ of utilisation according to HMCTS. The building is also occupied by CAFCASS, the Insolvency Service, and the National Probation Service.
In the financial year 2019-20, the court sat for a total of 6,670 hours, being in use 75% of the time with operating costs of £418,000. There are five judges and 32 administrative staff based at the site.
Delivery director for the region, Donna Bolton, said the long-term plan is to focus on main strategic centres and the major towns and cities with the best transport links, as set out last year.
“We outlined that this would mean consolidating outbuildings and investing further in those that remain, whilst ensuring that access to justice remains as our top priority,” said Bolton.
“Whilst there were no immediate plans to reduce our estate in Kent, circumstances outside our control has meant that we have to vacate the county building in Medway.”
The closure is subject to a four-week consultation, ending in mid-August. The proposal is to spend between £8m and £12m adding five courtrooms at Maidstone while simultaneously moving some work out of Medway Magistrates Court to free up two courtrooms.
According to the consultation document, Maidstone is just a 23-minute drive from Chatham, however, it is nearly a 90-minute journey on public transport.
The works at Maidstone will not be ready until late 2021, meaning some civil and family work will move to Medway Magistrates Court in the interim, with remaining work allocated where capacity is available in Dartford, Canterbury, Thanet, and Maidstone.
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