Cases will begin next week at three of the venues―Lowry Theatre in Salford, Jury’s Inn Middlesbrough, the Hilton Hotel in York. The remaining five are in Chester, Liverpool, Bristol, Winchester and Cirencester, and will open in the next few weeks. The courts will hear non-custodial crime, family, civil and tribunals cases.
The Lord Chancellor, Robert Buckland QC said there were ‘positive signs’, with the ‘number of outstanding cases in magistrates’ courts now falling’.