AN APPEAL to the High Court to save Tavistock's magistrates' court from closure stands a reasonable chance of success, Devon County Council has been told.
Its chief solicitor Roger Gash has met Queen's Counsel Timothy Straker, a leading expert on judicial review, for advice on whether to pursue the matter to the High Court if the pending appeal to the Lord Chancellor's Department is rejected.
Mr Straker told him that there could be grounds for an appeal to the High Court, but it would depend on the reasons given by the Lord Chancellor. He is obliged to give his reasons when he replies to the county's appeal.
The basis of the High Court case would be that the Devon and Cornwall Magistrates' Courts Committee had decided to close local courts, including Tavistock, in order to save three per cent of its budget, in line with official policy — but no such official policy exists, it is alleged.
'The Lord Chancellor will have difficulty in explaining that,' said John Burnett, the West Devon and Torridge MP who has been backing the campaign to keep the court open.
'If his reasons do not cover that point adequately, there could well be a case for judicial review.'
Mr Strakey will be asked to study the wording of the LCD response when it is received in the new year. After that county councillors will have to consider whether they want to take the case further.