THE proposal is that the Okehampton courthouse shall be closed and all magistrates' court work including licensing, shall be transferred to Exeter.

The Devon and Cornwall Magistrates' Committee makes this proposal as part of an instruction by the Lord Chancellor to make efficiency savings. The deadline for receipt of responses and views on this is April 7 2000.

The courtroom, built in 1958, belongs to West Devon Borough Council. The Lord Chancellor pays the council a modest £10,000 a year rent for it.

John Burnett MP has spoken on the floor of the House of Commons strongly opposing the closure of this court. He has made this abundantly clear in a forthright statement in the local press saying that it is important that justice should be done and seen to be done locally, not at arm's length.

This court covers an area which extends to the Cornish border. If the nearest courts were to be at Plymouth, Barnstaple and Exeter as proposed there would be a great space in West Devon without a court. Removal of local magistrates' courts, if done purely in pursuit of centralising administrative convenience, is objectionable.

It is now up to the people interested in the West Devon community at large and their parish councils in particular to make their voices heard during the consultative period. If people do not speak up now it will be assumed that the proposed closure can go ahead without much fuss.

Those wishing to make their views known should either write to the Lord Chancellor, The House of Lords, London SW1A 0AA or to the Devon and Cornwall MCC, Ground Floor (Department 1), North Quay House, Sutton Harbour, Plymouth Pl4 0RA from whom a consultative paper can be obtained. All responses will be acknowledged.

John Matthew

Lopes House

Belstone